Freethinking - Fletcher Priest Architects

Intro This is not a design book; it is about how we design and how we address some of the most important issues in front of us all. We intend to build on this expertise. The case studies illustrated here show the common threads that run through our work, and illustrate the practice’s continued exploration of the thoughtful and responsible use of materials and resources. Arranged under four headings, these appear to us as common sense ideas rather than an ideological approach, and solutions evolve from our working method. Often not recognised, and occasionally not visible, they have given benefits and long-term value to clients and users since the practice was founded over thirty years ago. Some of these projects incorporate innovative technologies that are practical and reliable alternatives to current practice. Others require no new technology at all, but spring from an imaginative response to specific requirements – looking beyond the problem. The impact of these diverse proposals may range from transforming the ecology of a region to influencing the day to day life of an individual. Whether large or small, they have been part of our architectural vocabulary for many years, and contribute to improving the built environment. We value the contribution of our colleagues in other disciplines who share their knowledge and experiences, both locally and internationally, and give us the technical support to fully develop ideas. We also benefit from the confidence of enlightened clients in many sectors and at all scales, who have the faith to adopt these ideas long before they are accepted wisdom, and who allow them to be realised.	Planning and Infrastructure – ecology and civic amenities In 2008, for the first time ever, the majority of the people on our planet are living in cities. Urban design projects by Fletcher Priest address a wide range of social and environmental issues, from those associated with large communities and conurbations to smaller-scale models. We advocate passionately the importance of an efficient urban infrastructure that must include the provision of high-quality public space. Our planned expansion of the historic city of Riga introduces a new public transport infrastructure. It creates more train and bus links within the capital, connecting it to the outlying regions. Similarly, the major expansion of London’s eastern perimeter is made possible by the massive investment in the public transport railway infrastructure at Stratford’s International Station. Our new landscape will create further links between the adjoining neighbourhoods and between the urban environment and the local ecology. Completed some five years ago in newly re-created woodland on the edge of Newbury, Vodafone’s new headquarters has the working population of a small town. Our design helped to retain its strong links with Newbury by introducing new transport links and routes, and outdoor amenities. We used the varied scale of the surrounding neighborhood as a model for Sedley Place in London’s West End, bringing together a number of uses on a complex city centre site and arranging them around a new arcade and public outdoor space. This is one of a number of new public spaces completed by Fletcher Priest in central London that generate activity at all hours of the day. Collectively in London alone, our public spaces cover an area the size of thirteen Trafalgar Squares.	Waste – reuse and best use Annually, the construction and demolition industry produces three times the amount of waste generated by all UK households combined. It is accepted that the construction industry is the biggest producer of waste. Landfill sites are scarce and those that exist have a detrimental effect on their surroundings. At Fletcher Priest, the reuse of buildings and their fabric has been and continues to be a key consideration in early design development. In 1988, the demolition of an existing nine-storey building at the IBM research facility at Hursley was one of the earliest examples of the recycling of materials with full traceability. Now common practice, the more recent Watermark Place in the City of London has taken this thinking a stage further with the retention of some 31% of the existing building, providing major cost, time and programme savings, and ecological benefits. Dashwood and Devonshire Square have profited from the same thinking. The structure of the former had a bearing capacity that allowed the existing frame to be retained and extended. The retention and reuse of historic Devonshire Square, with a new roof over the courtyard, is now the centrepiece of a much larger development. Finding a new use for old materials can provide its own inspiration. To celebrate a display of design products for the Millennium exhibition, we specified a range of recycled materials to construct the temporary Spiral of Innovation. Energy conservation and generation Climate change, corporate social responsibility and changes to the regulatory framework have given further impetus to the development and use of alternative technologies for the generation of electrical power. On a variety of projects, Fletcher Priest has encouraged clients and occupiers to explore these alternatives in conjunction with higher standards of energy conservation. A ground-source geothermal installation at Land Securities’ 40 Eastbourne Terrace in London uses less electricity than alternative methods to provide the seasonal cooling and heating requirements for the refurbished office building. We have completed a second borehole installation further up the same street with a third planned for another client nearby, each taking the technology a little further. Fletcher Priest Bosl in Kőln works in a country that is alive to this issue. Germany installed 1.1 Gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity last year – the equivalent of a large power station, and there are now nearly half a million houses fitted with photovoltaic panels. Working alongside our colleagues in Germany gives us first-hand knowledge of their current thinking and legislation.
The changing face of buildings Unused rooftops in London cover an area twenty-eight times the size of Richmond Park. With cities continuing to grow in size and complexity, rooftops have the potential to provide outdoor amenity space and to address the ecological issues that result from the increased density of urban centres. Fletcher Priest has built and is building green roofing and green terraces equivalent to forty-four tennis courts, in central London alone. The energy performance of building façades has resulted in changing ideas about what a façade might be. Shading devices reduce solar gain on exposed areas of glazing and mechanically controlled systems add to their flexibility and efficiency. Enlightened clients and occupiers also understand the value of investing in environmentally responsible design. For example, the international property company Lend Lease saw the design of their new headquarters as an opportunity to create an office that would act as a catalyst for change. The fit out we did for them set new standards for environmentally responsible office design both in the specification of materials, and also in facilities that encouraged ecological good practice in use. These projects have helped to redefine industry standards and have contributed to the debate on flexible standards for new and refurbished buildings, so that all decisions make both economic and ecological sense.	Streets and squares Public spaces enrich and improve our lives. Successful, thriving and prosperous communities are characterised by streets, parks and open spaces that are clean, safe and attractive. A well-conceived network of safe streets will encourage walking and cycling as an alternative to car use. In addition, the 'heat island effect' that results from increased paved surfaces in built-up areas, can be redressed through the introduction of trees and vegetation that reduce the ambient air temperature and improve air quality. Civic amenities are an integral part of our work as they not only provide a physical setting but also create opportunities for community cohesion and pride. In central London, the new public space facing the Thames at Watermark Place is the first of its kind along the Thames Path between the Palace of Westminster and Tower Bridge, and completes a continuous riverside walk along the north bank of the river. At Stratford, the masterplan includes 12.8 hectares of public open space that forms the heart of a new piece of the city.	Riga Infrastructure Latvia’s capital Riga is the largest city in the Baltic states and, as a city-port, it is a major transportation hub and the centre of the local road and railway system. We were winners of an open international urban design and architectural competition to design the masterplan for the expansion of the city on a large site across the river from the historic centre. The site risked being divided and isolated by the rail and road infrastructure which are being extended to strengthen the connections between the site and the rest of the city. We resolved this problem by regrading the landscape to anchor open spaces and suggesting an extensive new pedestrian network across the site. The relocation of administrative activities from the overcrowded centre will gently adjust the centre of gravity of the city and improve both areas significantly. We think that the construction of a new railway station and linked cultural facilities that include a railway museum with outdoor display areas will bring a cohesive identity to the new quarter. Fletcher Priest opened an office in Riga in 2008.
Landscape A major transformation is currently underway on a seventy-three hectare site on London’s eastern perimeter. The project has been made possible by the massive investment in the public transport railway infrastructure, built around the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the Stratford International Station at the centre of the site. The site is now seven minutes from St Pancras and just over two hours from the centre of Paris. The site will be a new urban centre in its own right, incorporating homes, offices and a major retail centre, and will leave a legacy of design decisions for generations to come in the structure of streets and open spaces. A new landscape is evolving from the three million cubic metres of spoil generated from tunnelling work. This has raised the level of the site by an average of two storeys out of the flood plain, enabling roads and bridges to overcome the tracks that have encircled and isolated the site since the growth of the railways in the nineteenth century and connecting previously disconnected areas of London. Originally earmarked as a long-term urban redevelopment to assist in London’s growth to the east, the project became an integral part of London’s bid for the 2012 Games. The project is now home to the Athletes Village and serves as the gateway to the wider park for thousands of visitors, millions of viewers around the world and the long-term population who will live there afterwards.	Natural sheltering We were appointed by Vodafone to consolidate their sixty-one buildings scattered around Newbury onto a redundant showground on the edge of the town. In earlier times the site had formed part of a hunting forest. We excavated an existing hollow to form a lake and balancing ponds, gently exaggerating the elevation of the existing landscape with the resulting spoil. We planted twenty-five thousand specially selected trees and shrubs on the site to match those species in the surviving sections of woodland on the top of nearby hills. These included native species arranged around the perimeter, birch groves to screen the contoured car parking areas and specimen trees around the lake. We were keen to make use of the location to help naturally ventilate the buildings. Studies have shown that naturally ventilated offices have 25-50% lower annual energy costs than those using air-conditioning. We grouped the buildings around the water’s edge and orientated them to harness the seasonal prevailing winds. The buildings’ form, the depth of the floor plates and the size and shape of the central atrium were modelled to ensure that natural ventilation would operate efficiently. Automated and manually operated windows exploit a stack effect to discharge warm air through high-level atrium vents combined with passive chilled beams, providing a mixed-mode solution to heating and cooling the buildings.	Mixed use planning/symbiosis Sedley Place is a new development that faces the hurly burly of Oxford Street, the busiest shopping street in the United Kingdom, and connects through an intimate backwater to Bond Street, a short distance away. We designed the scheme to retain the hierarchy and language of public spaces in the city block, using passages, arcades and internal courtyards. City centre infill sites are most often redeveloped for a single use that provides no activity after office hours. The unusual quality of this scheme is the wide variety of uses that include a major retail store, retail kiosks that line the arcade, offices, restaurants, cafes, studios and apartments. Their close proximity reduces travel journeys and brings life to the neighbourhood. The south-facing sun-filled (weather permitting) courtyard at the heart of the scheme increases the amount of public space on the site by twenty % and is a focal point that replaces dead-end vistas. It illustrates how, with innovative planning, an enclosed and complex city centre site can be viably developed in this way.
Reuse of Materials Watermark Place is a very large office building in the City of London, on the bank of the Thames by Cannon Street Station. Our designs replace Mondial House, a huge redundant telephone exchange that had an extensive below ground structure with a concrete frame designed to support industrial loads. We found out that the existing structure was capable of supporting the new building with sufficient space for a massive structure to transfer a new metric column grid onto the existing imperial layout. With the retention of the retaining walls, foundations and structural column grid, we preserved a third of the existing building mass by volume. This resulted in substantial savings in demolition and maintained the integrity of the basement as a working platform to allow new work to commence earlier. It also avoided disturbing any adjacent archaeological remains. A waste management plan ensured that 98% of demolition waste was sorted for recycling. Achieving these targets has been a major factor in keen occupier interest through the early phases of construction.	Structural Capacity Existing buildings often have hidden assets… Analysis of the existing structure of Dashwood, a thirty-five year old office tower in the City of London, revealed that the concrete frame and foundations had capacity for additional loads. Retention of the building frame therefore avoided demolition costs, site clearance and the construction of a new structural frame. It also resulted in a shorter contract period on site and we made significant energy savings overall. Our design replaces the existing pre-cast panels with a new lightweight cladding system allowing the construction of five additional floors of offices and increasing the usable area by 40%. With a wall-to-core depth of ten metres, good natural lighting levels are available to large areas, reducing the dependence on artificial lighting. Energy savings are achieved with dimmable lighting controls.	Reuse/refurbishment/restoration For many years we have designed the refurbishment of existing buildings, often at the behest of far-sighted clients, and sometimes against their initial briefings and expectations, and it has become an integral strand of our work. From the outset, for instance, we have worked for clients who have been instrumental in rescuing and reviving independent cinema in the UK, saving threatened historic buildings and giving dilapidated 1930’s circuit cinemas new life. More recently, we restored Devonshire Square, originally built as warehouses by the East India Company. The western courtyard of Devonshire Square is covered with a delicate steel and translucent ETFE roof to create a year round active public space surrounded by new restaurants and shops. The building has been in use for more than two hundred years and has undergone a number of renovations, illustrating the flexibility of the original warehouse typology. Recent studies have confirmed the value of this approach to the environment, calculating the value of embodied energy in building fabric and demonstrating the environmental cost of demolition.
Recycled materials To celebrate a new Millennium, the Design Council lauded just over one thousand products and services as the best in British design, creativity and innovation. Over two hundred of these were displayed in the ‘Spiral of Innovation’, an open-air exhibit on the river wall in front of the Millennium Dome. Millennium Products and Services had to open up new opportunities, challenge existing conventions, be environmentally responsible and demonstrate the application of new or existing technology. They also had to solve a key problem and show clear user benefits. The temporary Spiral of Innovation pavilion was conceived in the spirit of the objects and processes on display, and constructed from totally recycled and recyclable materials. Arranged in plan as a Fibonacci spiral, materials included recycled polystyrene for the structural foundations to avoid overloading the river wall, sustainably sourced timber for the pedestrian deck, a wall made from recycled green bottles, and recycled car tyres and fenders for surface cladding.	Recycling building materials The demolition of the nine-storey building at IBM’s UK Software Applications Laboratories near Winchester nearly twenty years ago, was the first stage in the construction of our new research facility for the company, that itself was judged IBM’s most cost-effective and energy efficient in Europe. Our demolition was one of the earliest examples of the recycling of materials with full traceability. We dismantled the building floor by floor into skips, so that materials were segregated at the workface, allowing 95% to be recycled. Of this there was little that could be directly reused. Some sanitary ware went to a school in Southampton and blinds, doors and carpets were sold. Most elements were rendered down to more basic materials. Some 70 tonnes of glass cullet was recycled as bottles, 236 tonnes of ferrous metal processed as feedstock for iron, and 40 tonnes of non-ferrous metal processed into aluminium and copper ingots. CFCs and fuel oil were both recovered and reprocessed. We also retained and modified the basement structure and foundations to construct a new underground foyer and conference centre that is the heart of the new facility.	Ground source geothermal 40 Eastbourne Terrace was the first of four office buildings facing Paddington Station in London to be upgraded and transformed by this office. It was also the first ground source geothermal installation in a Land Securities building and it has convinced owners, professional advisors and occupiers that the technology is reliable and cost-effective. Four 300 mm diameter boreholes were drilled to a depth of 150 metres below ground level, roughly the height of Tower 42 in the City. Two of these have submersible pumps which each draw up 15 litres of water per second from the chalk aquifer. The water is piped to the plant room where it passes through duplicate plate heat exchangers, through a water-to-water heat pump to either heat or cool depending on the season. It is then returned to the aquifer through the remaining two boreholes. Energy savings of 40% are achieved compared with traditional air-cooled chillers and the low energy consumption results in significantly lower associated carbon dioxide emissions. The system is invisible and silent and as there is no need for a boiler, flue, cooling tower and associated water treatment plant, there are significant space savings.
Ground source cooling - North Wharf Road The benefits of a development along an existing and historic canal go beyond the amenity value of a waterside setting. Close to London’s Paddington Basin, North Wharf Road has a frontage along the tow-path with two distinct buildings that house offices and apartments. We have used the building’s location in a number of practical ways that these days would be called the sustainability agenda. Since the site is on a branch of the Grand Union Canal, the extensive canal network will be used to remove waste from the site for recycling and to deliver freight and materials. Of the renewable energy sources assessed, a site-wide aquifer thermal energy storage system appears to be the most viable. In warm weather, cool underground water from the aquifer will be passed through a heat exchanger, providing direct cooling to the buildings. The water will then be discharged to an underground ‘warm energy’ store. In winter months, energy removed from the office building and energy stored underground will be used to provide heating in the residential building.	Varying standards Our presence in Germany for over fifteen years gives us a useful comparative insight into a market where micro-generation plays a significant part in the renewable energy sector. Legislation in Germany, developed against a background of no North Sea oil, sets the pace for other countries, requiring extremely high levels of energy conservation in new buildings. They have also consistently set significantly higher standards than the UK in other areas such as rainwater harvesting and the airtightness of buildings. Working regularly with our colleagues in Germany broadens our international capabilities and helps us understand the concerns of others and to be aware on a day to day basis of what is practically becoming a pan-European position.	Façade Design Building façades evolve from many pressures. Among them are aesthetic demands and technical requirements, and many modelling techniques help us in developing designs. Energy performance has resulted in changing ideas about what a façade might be. For example, the external envelope is now seen as one, with the roof as a fifth ‘façade’. Components are modelled, prototyped, tested and modified. It is a collaborative effort that involves individual consultants and manufacturers who contribute their specialist skills and experience. Our experience in façade development goes back to a BOC special gases building, designed by one of the partners in 1975, where the exposed façades are inclined in order to reduce solar gain and to eliminate reflections. 30% of the wall is grass and the insulation is recycled glass. More recently, Rio Tinto’s Headquarters, facing Paddington Station, is made up of pre-fabricated stone and glass units that repeat themselves in a handed pattern. These are arranged to provide more shading on areas of the building that are exposed to direct sunlight, with larger areas of glazing to the north. This optimised variation provides the patterning that gives the building a distinctive appearance. Dashwood and Watermark Place, office buildings in the City of London, both utilise a silk-screened dot-matrix pattern on the glazing to reduce areas of exposure to solar gain. The latter also uses a triple-skin façade with internal revolving timber blades to provide shade. Along its south-facing frontage, a massive five-storey timber structure with projecting louvred inserts provides shade without obstructing the panoramic views from the office floors.
Solar protection/orientation Ever-improving modelling software helps us to decide on the best orientation for buildings, by delivering precise information on the sun’s path through the year. It allows the solar impact on the interior to be measured and predicted and it also helps us to design responsive façades that among other things can reduce the building’s dependency on artificial light and significantly reduce cooling loads. The first of the six four-storey office buildings that make up Peoplebuilding in Hemel acts as a gateway to the business district. It is oriented north/south, with mechanically activated brises soleils protecting the west, south and east elevations. These moving arrays of ‘translucent’ perforated aluminium louvres are controlled by the building management systems that track the sun’s path, resulting in significant energy savings and excellent day-lighting levels internally. The hedge at their base is an integral part of the ‘wall’ catching drips from the louvres after a rain storm and protecting the lawn between the louvres and the ‘glass box’.	Materials sourcing - Lend Lease Lend Lease’s new headquarters inserted into the shell of a 1970’s building in London’s West End sets new standards for environmentally responsible office design. Lend Lease wanted the building to embody its environmental values and aspirations, in surroundings that encourage innovation and collaboration. They had already demonstrated this with a purpose-built building in Sydney, and wanted to explore the potential in an existing building. In line with the company's commitment to sustainability, much of the existing concrete soffit is left exposed, taking the benefit of the mass of the structure to provide thermal cooling. Materials are predominantly natural, and all timbers are from Forest Stewardship Council approved sources. A bamboo-veneered wall runs the length of the ground floor, linking the meeting rooms to the reception; materials are recycled, recyclable and reusable. This is evident throughout, with recycling bins that are an integral part of the design and motion-activated lighting. The offices have helped establish a new UK British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) for fit out, and then went on to achieve the highest rating.
A plea for more flexible building standards Building standards are implemented to reflect changing patterns in the workplace and in the home. These minimum standards cannot be universally appropriate, and in many cases ‘just sticking to the rules’ results in decisions that are not environmentally desirable, practical or cost-effective. For most of us, the workplace means an office, where adopted standards set minimum dimensions for floor plate depths, floor to ceiling heights, waiting times for lifts, the number and location of sanitary fittings and much more. Market forces also have an enormous role, influencing the availability of office space and the density of occupancy. The practice contributes to industry standards working groups, developing and promoting more flexible standards for the workplace, particularly in the assessment of existing buildings, their potential for refurbishment and their place in the urban fabric of our cities. Alas, many perfectly good buildings are in effect declared redundant. For example, reduced ceiling heights in existing buildings, particularly where narrow floor plates satisfy day-lighting requirements, should not in our view be assessed as sub-standard. Other solutions, such as the introduction of day-lit convenience staircases between floors, can help to reduce the dependence on lifts and lift numbers. Amendments to the UK’s Environmental Assessment Method are also required, as they do not correctly reward the retention of building fabric by volume, and correlation to international and EU standards could be improved. Changing standards will extend the life of buildings, which would normally be demolished or denied funds due to their configuration.	Green Roofs With its uninterrupted views of St Paul’s, One Wood Street, on the corner of Cheapside in the City of London, is the most recent of our buildings to exploit the potential of planted roofs. At One Wood Street, the roof is designed as a replacement breeding and foraging habitat for the endangered black redstart. Only about one hundred pairs of this rare and protected bird are nesting in Britain, a smaller population than that of ospreys or golden eagles. Between 10% and 30% of the national breeding population is in London, but their natural habitat along the Thames corridor is threatened by redevelopment. First reported to have bred in London in 1926, the black redstart was found in City bombsites after the Second World War, which reflected its optimum habitat on the scree slopes of the Alps. In 1964 the population around Cheapside was in the region of sixteen pairs. However, with the regeneration of the Barbican the population crashed. A variety of new habitats will hopefully ensure the survival of this beautiful bird. Research in Switzerland and Germany has illustrated the benefits of planted roofs, which include the attenuation of storm water run-off and the protection of the building fabric from sunlight and temperature fluctuations. Green roofs can also reduce the ‘urban heat island’ effect by absorbing air pollutants and dust and, with thoughtful planning, they can provide habitats for wildlife. In central London alone we have built, and are currently building, green roofing and green terraces equivalent in area to forty-four tennis courts.	Collaborators We always work in teams internally and externally, and this area of our work is no different. We would like to thank the many colleagues in other disciplines with whom we work everyday. It would have been impossible to develop and realise the body of work illustrated in this book without their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm, stamina and tenacity.