150 Holborn Case Study

150 Holborn London Pushing the Boundaries of Sustainable Development and Design

Client: Dar Group Total size: 16,997m2 / 182,955 ft2

150 Holborn will bring together the growing brands of the international

Office - 12,593m2 / 135,548 ft2 Plant & Services - 16,000m / 17,225ft 2

2

consultancy of the Dar Group under one roof for the first time globally.

Retail - 1,453m2 / 15,640ft2

Our design replaces a 1980s office block with a modern, mixed-use

Residential - 1,352m2 / 14,552ft2

scheme that incorporates public retail, café and exhibition space on

Completion Date: 2020 Sustainability: LEED Platinum

the ground floor, and a private landscaped roof terrace above with excellent views for employees.

Targeting BREEAM Outstanding

Located in the thriving Midtown area of London, the building is

SKA Gold

designed at a limited height to maintain views of St Paul’s Cathedral and respect the neighbouring townscape. The interior design ensures each respective business keeps its unique identity while supporting cross-brand interaction.

With collaboration key, the space will unite over 1,000 staff in a single state-of-the-art workplace, providing Dar Group with a sustainable platform for growth for the next decade and beyond.

150 Holborn

― WHAT MAKES IT UNIQUE

A building with a connective heart to facilitate a collaborative environment for ideas to be exchanged.

Workplace Strategy Our workplace strategy consolidates separate brands while providing them with their own identity. Throughout our design, we incorporated opportunities for the different companies to come together, including the central entrance lobby, which includes a street facing café, exhibition and reception space, an atrium with feature stair, and sweeping roof pavilion with roof gardens.

Design Excellence To encourage a sense of visual continuity, the façades proportions and scale follow and mimic the immediate context. Ground floor retail along the east and west side appears at double height thanks to clever inset detailing. The deliberately ambiguous main lobby allows both a corporate reception and public café to coexist in the same space whilst acting as an inviting window to the companies’ brand and ethos. This blurred boundary is punctuated by a first-floor glazed bridge above the entry turnstiles, creating a dynamic backdrop for multimedia exhibitions.

150 Holborn

“We are delighted to be committing the Dar Group’s future to this dynamic, exciting and developing area of London. We view London and the UK as a key area of our business in supporting our global clients. We will be creating local employment opportunities and engaging with the local community to encourage awareness of design and engineering through educational collaboration.” ― ANDREW LOUDON, UK MD, DAR

Well-Being A sweeping pavilion and roof garden promotes staff and local well-being with a large planted terrace offering excellent views towards St Paul’s Cathedral. The building provides 231 cycle parking spaces and is located within walking distance to several major transport interchanges, including Chancery Lane Station directly outside the building entry. Food and beverage outlets on the ground floor provide employees with direct access to high-quality healthy food.

Top: The central entrance lobby features a streetfacing café, exhibition and reception space, and an atrium with a large feature staircase.

Bottom: Design evolution

150 Holborn

Resilience The building has been designed to be energy efficient, adaptable to climate change with increase resilience. A high-performing building envelope maximises both daylight and views out during London’s long winters while minimising solar gain. The building’s façade fins have been arranged to provide solidity and reduce solar exposure. The flexible system applied to the external metal fins can be adapted with future needs. The uniformity of the glazing allows for future insertion of natural ventilation. While we designed 150 Holborn as a headquarters building, it has the adaptability to be used as a different type of commercial space in the future.

Mobility Interactivity and knowledge sharing are promoted throughout. An offset arrangement of cores is linked by four lifts and a large shared staircase. We designed the space with the intention that the stairs should be used as often as possible to promote opportunities for chance meetings and discussion between members of different companies.

↑ Sectional façade view

← View along High Holborn