11 Belgrave Road
Eric Parry Architects has completed the renewal of 11 Belgrave Road with 150,000 sqft of Grade A workspace, setting a new standard of high quality office space in Victoria, London. Delivering an enhanced community asset with publicly accessible café, gymnasium and co-working spaces along with extensive urban greening in the heart of Pimlico. This project has transformed the existing 1950s office building into 108,000 sqft of office accommodation, with sustainability at its core. 11 Belgrave Road also includes 14,000 sqft of communal spaces and best-in-class facilities, including a café and a gym. In addition, 13,000 sqft of exceptional green space, designed by landscape architects Gillespies, is seamlessly woven throughout. There is a walled garden at ground floor as well as spacious indoor and outdoor amenity spaces, with terraces on the sixth and seventh floor, and a rooftop offering panoramic views over London.
The project for Quadrum has renewed the existing 1950s office building, with the partial reconstruction, new façades, garden courts and extensively landscaped roof terraces providing flexible, contemporary workspace for a future generation of occupants.
We have retained a significant amount, 35%, of the existing 1950s concrete structure and foundations as part of an overall strategy to substantially reduce the embodied carbon of the development.
Biodiversity
Enhanced urban greening, 10,000 SQFT gardens and terraces
Decarbonised
100% electric building 320 SQM of solar panels
Wellbeing
WELL Precertified Platinum level
Improved Operational Energy
To achieve 5.5 Star NABERS UK Design for Performance
Materials
Extensive use of recycled and natural materials
Façade
New oak composite cladding with openable windows and a precast façade
Structure
New low carbon concrete and steelwork with CLT roof slabs
Retained
35% existing structures
Retained Structure
At the centre of the project are beautifully designed landscaped spaces within a constrained urban environment. People are able to experience the seasons and relax surrounded by nature, no matter how small the scale, and this is proven to be hugely beneficial and restorative to an individual’s mental wellbeing. The gardens help boost local biodiversity and support decarbonisation efforts through a mosaic of robust, drought-tolerant planting that will mature over time and increase the ecology of the site.
The project meets the highest sustainability and wellbeing credentials making 11 Belgrave Road a positive contribution to the local area.
Sustainability and health combined to create a forward-thinking workplace that will create a hub for collaboration and productivity where collaborative work and social activities, that cannot happen at home, are given centre stage.
Accessible amenity spaces for all users and good natural light with openable windows along with smart environmental control create a healthy workspace.
Wellbeing is supported throughout the interior spaces through the use of low-environmental impact, bio-based and recycled materials with a deliberately domestic feel to generate a welcoming environment.
There is an emphasis on the quality of space rather than quantity. This is achieved through low environmental impact, bio based and recycled materials used throughout the design with material use analysed to minimise the embodied carbon and create a robust building with a maximised life cycle.
CLT Slabs
Biophilic design will re-green the site. As well as being attractive amenities, the new garden courtyard and green roofs on the first and eighth floors will provide a rainwater buffer, purify the air, and help regulate indoor and ambient temperatures. The species-rich planting plan offers a range of invertebrate habitats to support biodiversity. Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) in the landscaping mimic natural hydrological processes, attenuating rainfall run-off.
A sustainable planting design ensures that these spaces are not only beautiful but also resilient and low-maintenance. By selecting native and adaptive plant species, urban greening can thrive with minimal resource inputs, aligning with climate adaptation goals and reducing environmental footprints. A thoughtful design approach prioritises plants that are drought-resistant, pollution-tolerant, and capable of supporting local wildlife, adding depth to the ecological benefits of urban spaces.
Gillespies – Landcape Architect
Amenity Terrace
Courtyard Gardens
Rooftop Views
Terrace Garden
The design life of the existing structure has been extended, reducing embodied and whole life carbon whilst creating a flexible and enhanced workspace. The structure is wrapped in a new high performing oak curtain wall system behind a self-supporting precast façade that sits harmoniously within the Conservation Area whilst being designed for demount-ability to accommodate future refurbishment and recycling.
11 Belgrave Road meets the highest sustainability and wellbeing credentials. It has been designed to be net zero carbon in both construction and operation, at 466 kgCO2e/m whole life carbon the building surpasses the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge target by 38%.
The project achieves NABERS 5.5-star design-reviewed target rating for building efficiency, the WiredScore & SmartScore Platinum certification, BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating and WELL Platinum.
NABERS UK 5.5-star SmartScore Platinum WiredScore Platinum BREEAM Outstanding WELL Platinum
The commitment to sustainability in this project resulted in a unique MEP arrangement, with services carefully integrated to fit the shape of the existing buildings. Heating, cooling and hot water is provided via air source heat pumps which were installed in a plantroom on the lower ground floor. An innovative hybrid ambient loop/variable refrigerant flow system was designed for its lighter form on tenant floorplates, also enabling the system to balance the heating and cooling loads across the floors and reduce the run times of the central plant, whilst minimising the total quantity of refrigerants in the building.
Three risers serve each floor, enabling flexible servicing for tenants and the potential subdivision of the floorplates into three individual tenancies. The result is the first office building in the UK to achieve a 5.5-star NABERS UK Design for Performance target rating for building energy efficiency and through the project’s retention of existing structure, with a significantly lower upfront carbon than an equivalent new-build.
Max Fordham – MEP & Sustainability Consultant
Community and social engagement has been integral to the project since inception, achieved through extensive user group engagement during brief development, shaping outcomes of design and fostering future social engagement in building use. The project provides social and economic contributions with a new public café and independent gym space with shared co-working spaces for commercial and community hire.
Eric Parry Architects Project Team:
Eric Parry
Robert Kennett
Lewis Benmore
Catharin Knuth
Ethan Liu
Contact: comms@ericparryarchitects.co.uk
Awards as of August 2024:
Constructing Excellence SECBE
Property Week Awards
London Construction Awards
Global Good Awards
MoneyAge Awards
Building Awards
Proporty Week ESG Awards
Climate Action | Winner
Building Project of the Year | ESG | Finalist
Sustainability Initiative – Commercial | Finalist
Commercial Project of the Year | Excellence in Sustainability | Finalist
Game-changing Innovation of the Year | Finalist
Sustainability Initiative of the Year | Shortlisted
Retrofit Project of the Year | Winner
Net Zero Award | Construction Client of the Year | Finalist
Carbon Reduction Initiative | Winner ESG Developer | Retrofit Project | Shortlisted
Constructing Excellence National Climate Action | Finalist
New London Awards
Retrofit | Workplace | Sustainability Prize | Shortlisted
EG Awards Sustainability | Finalist
Project Team
Client: Quadrum Global
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
MEP: Max Fordham
Structure: Heyne Tillett Steel
Landscape Architect: Gillespies
Project Manager: Bankfoot Developments Ltd.
Project Manager/Quantity Surveyor: Abakus
Contractor: BAM Construction Ltd.
Façade Engineer: FMDC
Planning Consultant: Gerald Eve
WELL Consultant: Ekkist
BREEAM Consultant: Delta Green