The design exemplifies KPF’s “Keep and Add” approach to adaptive reuse and illustrates the importance of a close and creative partnership across the design team.
In February, the City of London voted unanimously to approve plans for Seventy Gracechurch, a development for Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Stanhope PLC. The 33-storey tower comprises the adaptive reuse of a former department store, with a new office structure built above.
“There is a rigorous discipline to how this is done,” John explains. “A careful arrangement of the new build tower allows it to be supported by a combination of reinforced existing columns and a new core threaded through the original building.”
An earlier scheme, for demolition and rebuild, was consented in 2020. On purchasing the site, the client set ambitious targets for an overall step change in the sustainability agenda. The design team—KPF, Robert Bird Group, Arup, and Turner & Townsend alinea—worked towards the objectives of a significant reduction in embodied carbon through the retention of the existing building structure, alongside a full reappraisal of the building envelope and services.
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