PROJECT INSIGHT Photo: Chris Hodson
Lightweight Retrofit with Nordic Copper Adaptive reuse of existing buildings is an essential strategy to reduce embodied carbon, while regenerating our urban environments. An exemplar of this approach – 72 Broadwick Street – is crowned by a profiled roofscape clad in Nordic Brown Light copper from Aurubis. Set within the Soho Conservation Area, 72 Broadwick Street is a half-acre island site fronting London’s iconic Carnaby Street. Originally built in the 1970s as a ‘brutalist’ concrete, seven- storey headquarters building, its recent extensive mixed-use redevelopment now provides a range of uses including offices, restaurants, a gym, retail and residential units. Designed by architects Buckley Gray Yeoman (BGY) for developer Shaftesbury Carnaby, the regeneration project demonstrates how a diverse range of uses can be accommodated within one urban block in the heart of London. 72 Broadwick Street was recognised as the ‘Best Mixed-Use Scheme’ by the 2023 Building London Planning Awards. As well as requiring major structural alterations and remodelling, the project also presented various challenges for architects BGY, planning consultant Rolfe Judd and main contractor Blenheim House Construction. They included working around the West End’s largest electrical substation, keeping existing ground floor units operational and minimising impact upon a major retail destination. The building’s exterior has been transformed with new fenestration throughout, new feature brickwork and existing brickwork treated to give the complete development a contemporary feel.
58
