Key to KPF’s approach is the concept of “embodied carbon”. “And it is probably where all buildings will need to get to eventually.” “This will be one of the most efficient buildings in the city - it is right at the cutting edge of what is possible,” says an excited Bushell. Solar panels, air source heat pumps and a smattering of other technologies will also ensure the site’s emissions stay low when tenants eventually move in. The approach will cut the building’s carbon footprint in half when compared to a totally new construction, with zero waste going to landfill. This includes the “bones”, the building’s foundation and main structure, while adding some new sections to completely transform its appearance.Īs part of this, at least 1,500 tonnes of Portland stone and granite - about 85pc of what is there - are set to be re-used. John Bushell, lead designer on the project, says his team has aimed to recycle as much of the old BT Centre as possible.
Yet crucially, all this will be accomplished without knocking the building down, according to architecture firm Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF).
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Instead, visitors will be able to wander through a shop-lined “street” bisecting the new ground floor and zip upstairs to swanky roof cafes, while businesses will be able to lease trendy, open plan offices with spectacular views. It is among a new generation of offices springing up around the capital that architects say will cut our carbon footprint on the way to net zero.īT Centre will lose the chairman’s lift, a gigantic (but perhaps impractical) atrium and the rabbit warren corridors and staircases, as well as stone walls that look more like fortifications to outsiders. The transformation will aim to turn the site into a shopper-friendly, glass-fronted paradise, replete with roof terraces and dangling foliage. Yet in these greener, more climate-conscious times, its new owners have other ideas.īT Centre is set for a radical makeover that architects hope will make it one of London’s most environmentally friendly buildings. Much to the delight of critics, this might have once meant the building was destined for demolition. Occupying a site long used by the General Post Office, the imposing building opened a couple of months before the telecoms giant was privatised in 1984.Īfter four decades of service, BT is moving to a shiny modern tower in Aldgate. It is only a stone’s throw from St Paul’s Cathedral, but BT’s former headquarters could hardly be further removed from Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. The proposed redevelopment of the BT building - Uniform