n Technical
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Great Technique
nce a bank HQ and gin distillery, the new Technique building in London’s Clerkenwell is now a high-quality office space, light and airy with environmental credentials to die for. Walking round site, it is impossible to imagine how this dream environment emerged from the scenes revealed in construction photos from the two-year build. As Graham Construction project manager Jamie Tombs talks though some of the issues he and his team have dealt with, he frequently punctuates his account with “but it was worth it”. And he genuinely means it. Because what he and developer General Projects share is a love of buildings and
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Technique joins two 1960s buildings, extending them upwards and adding a grey brick lobby Opposite: The timber members are left exposed, promising biophilic benefits to workers Automatic blinds installed by Waverley will come down automatically at 8pm to limit light pollution
building technology – which is at the heart of this rebirth. “We wanted to use what was there,” says General Projects’ development director Frederic Schwass. “To celebrate what’s there and to extend it.” So, the existing concrete has been sandblasted to expose the aggregate, with missing lumps and formwork joins now features to be admired. By using a combination of crosslaminated timber (CLT) and glulam for the third and fourth floors of the building, General Projects has boosted the floor area to 74,000 sq ft of top-notch space with 5,000 sq ft of small, affordable units in the basement. The timber members are left exposed, lightly whitewashed, promising biophilic benefits to workers on the upper floors – as do the blue-green roofs around the stepped-in upper floors. CLT and glulam also worked wonders for the building’s sustainability, with the timber embodying around half the carbon that a steel frame would, according to structural engineer Heyne Tillett Steel (HTS). Occupiers won’t look at less than BREEAM Excellent, says Schwass. There is a downside to timber frame though: the cost of construction insurance, which Schwass says is 2.5 times higher than for steel or concrete (see p26 for more on this). And the frame did require a little help from steel just here and there.
Who gets the risk? Though not the first project on site, Technique was the first project the developer won, after it was set up in 2016 with a mission to breathe new life into ageing buildings. Had General Projects not been approached by the owners – private investors based in London – the two 1960s buildings could very likely have been razed to the ground. “Knocking a building down is miles easier, miles quicker but you won’t have the same characteristics,” comments Tombs. One of the thorniest issues for General Projects and Graham in agreeing a contract back in 2019 was how to apportion the risk of working with an existing structure. “One of
KAREN HATCH PHOTOGRAPHY
KAREN HATCH PHOTOGRAPHY
Making a beautiful new office from two decrepit buildings is no mean feat. But both developer and contractor insist the pain is worth the gain. By Kristina Smith
20 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT MARCH 2022
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