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🟩 GreenBricks Building of the Week 🟩 One Embankment Place

Post-modern green


A prominent post-modern building, once so leaky it couldn’t be sufficiently pressurised to get a reading. Tired, awkward, unloved, and with a fountain that stank of chlorine – it is now one of the world’s greenest.


📍Location


🏢Building Details

  • Original building from 1990 – refurb completed 2013

  • 9 storeys, 450,000 sq. ft.

  • 4,500 people sharing 3,150 workstations

  • Winner 2014 BCO Best Recycled/ Refurbished Workplace


👷🏾‍♀️Developer & Contractor


✍️Architects & Engineers


🌱Sustainability

  • EPC A + BREEAM Outstanding (96.31%) = world record at the time

  • Tri-generation cooling, heating + power plant: fuelled by waste vegetable oil collected and locally refined by Olleco; bio-fuel assessed and certified by London South Bank University

  • Emits 40% less CO2 than comparable buildings; 20% of heat and 60% of energy produced on-site = project cost paid for itself within 4 years

  • 95% of materials responsibly sourced + 96% of construction waste was diverted from landfill


🥦 Wellbeing

  • Cellular offices replaced with large, uncluttered floor plates open to the atriums – allowing natural light to flood in

  • Paints, varnishes and carpets all low volatile organic compound content – guaranteed by dedicated supplier manager

  • Multiple external terraces planted with herb beds and green walls


🎈Bonus feature

Sandwiched by major station, hotels, residential blocks, and theatre, it is in one of London’s most congested areas. There was only 100mm clearance to get the tri-gen plant inside: a real feat. Plus, it was refurbished while in occupation – “like doing open-heart surgery on a marathon runner, while they’re running a marathon!”, as described by a project manager.



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