Prime Highlights

• A Bethnal Green warehouse from the 1970s is transformed into a dramatic six-storey office building with green design and galvanized steel.
• The retrofit has twice the volume of the original building without new foundations, achieved by low-carbon design and reuse.

Key Fact

• Carmody Groarke clad the existing warehouse frame with three new floors using timber and lightweight steel without disrupting the original concrete frame.
• The weather protection, unique texture, and solar shading provided by the galvanized steel cladding promote long-term performance.

Key Background

The refurbishment of the design of 469 Bethnal Green Road is a prime example of sustainable retrofitting in the City of London. As a lowly concrete-framed 1970s warehouse in its original state, the building remained seriously underused and not visually pleasing. Carmody Groarke took the challenge to not just refurbish the building but also to redefine its role as an office building with low carbon levels, with a design-led strategy. Instead of destroying it, architects saved the original building—keeping its concrete framework and foundations—for environmental concerns.

The most theatrical addition is the three-storey addition built above the top of the historic building, for a total of six storeys. The upper levels use a hybrid structural system of Douglas fir wood and structural steel, a light-weight system selected with the specific aim of reducing load on the historic building. The new addition is bolted assembly and fully demountable, for reuse in the future and near-total waste reduction—an articulation of circular design principles.

Externally, the building too has been transformed dramatically. The new upper floors are finished with reflective 3mm galvanized steel panels each having its own spangled appearance created through the galvanization process. Strategically placed fins and deeply recessed windows repress solar gain and give the façade an industrial, rhythmical beauty. The cladding not only creates a pleasing aesthetic effect but offers unmatched protection against corrosion and weathering.

Internally, the scheme has been designed to be designedly flexible, with raw concrete, complexion pot crossbeams, and Douglas fir joists adding character. Open- plan design allows for unborn druggies to gain, while fully electric and unresistant performance- driven engineering reinforces the scheme’s low- carbon credentials. Carmody Groarke’s metamorphosis of 469 Bethnal Green Road provides a model for megacity- center sustainability, balancing architectural complication with environmental perceptivity.