It’s been an ice factory, a coachworks, a power station and a car repair shop. Now, in its latest incarnation, a £700m revamp will see 27 Eccleston Place in London’s Belgravia transformed into a flexible office, restaurant and retail space.
Eccleston Place is part a growing boom of retrofitting buildings to improve carbon efficiency. This is a move that reverses the trend of knocking it down and starting again.
According to the The Environment Agency, nearly 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by building, heating, cooling, and powering buildings. World GreenBuilding Council (WGBC).
Much of that comes in the form of embodied carbon – the CO2 emitted in producing construction materials and components, as well as the construction process itself – meaning even the most energy-conscious Passivhaus can bear a hefty carbon footprint.
Ultimately, say some commentators, the most sustainable building is one you don’t build, and with developers increasingly conscious of striving towards net zero, more and more are choosing to retrofit.
In Birmingham, former NatWest offices at Brindley Place are being transformed into a ‘modern workspace’ with improved energy efficiency measures, including solar panels. It has helped to save a significant amount of embodied CO2 by keeping the foundations of the building and the frame.
Our industry must act and we must act immediately
Back in London, a former bus factory in Islington bought by flexible office provider Workspace for £45m will be turned into modern offices.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report found that 61 per cent of global building emissions could be reduced by 2050 – with some of the biggest gains to be made in the renovation of existing buildings in developed countries.
WGBC CEO Cristina Gamboa said: “For the sustainable built environment movement, it is a clear reminder of what we already know – our industry must act, and we must act now.
Main image: Eccleston Place: Grosvenor
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