Keep the frame

The existing concrete frame was sound and heavily overbuilt, so it stayed. Everything attached to it — partitions, cladding, services, a false ceiling on every floor — was removed. What remained set the grid for everything that followed.

Retaining the structure avoided roughly 3 400 tonnes of embodied carbon against a replacement scheme. That figure decided the project more than any drawing did.

Giving the ground away

The ground floor was cleared and opened on three sides, and a new lightweight roof extends past the slab to cover the forecourt. The building’s most valuable level is now the one it does not use.