One Exchange Square
City of London, UK
The ambitious design proposal for the refurbishment of this post-modernist office block in the heart of city of London is a testament to the opportunities for repair, retention and renovation of existing major buildings in the city. The brief includes for a high proportion of the existing structure and facade to be retained in an effort to achieve series of outstanding scores in the established sustainability metrics such as BREEAM, WELL and NABERS UK.
Define Engineers involvement on this project is particularly unique as driven by the latest effort in the London commercial developments to continue to reduce the embodied carbon of the capitals new projects. Define Engineers are instrumental in bringing the Architect and Facade Consultant concepts from paper to reality. Working independenly for the two specialist facade sub-contractors on the project OAG (External windows) and Staticus, (Internal Atria and Rooflights) our team is developing fully compliant and practical solutions through extensive surveys and engineering analysis of the existing fabrics. As with every existing building, the process of refurbishment is non-linear and consists of continuously adapting and improving on the typical detailing to manage as-built conditions.
Working for the sub-contractors on the project gives us a unique perspective on the challenges of the facade refurbishment and renovation process. Together with their in-house teams, we work through the facades design at Stage 5 where the initial concepts are refined, improved and ultimately materialised through pragmatic and balanced decisions about risk, performance, cost and programme. Not everything is clearly known at the initial stages of a refurbishment projects and a pro-active and balanced strategy to the adaptation of the client teams’ vision is necessary. To this end, in-depth understanding of the current legislation and sustainability targets is required as well as the willingness to work with the wider team in developing a fully compliant and warrantable solutions. Aspects such as air tightness and water tightness at existing to new interfaces as well as assessment of the structural suitability of retained materials. Our team employs state-of-the-art analysis tools to verify the structural and thermal performance of all solutions proposed while carefully navigating through the products and systems selection phase with our clients to maintain the fixed budget while meeting the specification and controlling the risk to the end client.
Architect – Fletcher Priest Architects
Facade consultant – Eckersley O’Callaghan
Main Contractor – Multiplex
Facade Sub-contractors – OAG & Staticus
Sub-contractor design & engineering – Define Engineers
Define’s scope : Design and engineering services at Stage 5 until completion, Structural Engineering, Thermal engineering, Fully co-ordinated Stage 5 design drawings, BIM and 3D Modelling
