160 Old Street

Built

Timothy Soar

160 Old Street is a former Royal Mail building which has now been transformed into a contemporary office building. It consists of office, retail and restaurant accommodation.

NEW LONDON AWARDS 2020

Shortlisted in the WORKING category

Great Ropemaker Partnership (joint venture between Great Portland Estates plc/ BP Pension Fund Ltd) commissioned Orms to transform this former Royal Mail building into a contemporary office building. The 166,300 sq ft refurbishment includes 153,000 sq ft office accommodation over eleven floors. Two additional top storeys were added with four new retail units along the Old Street frontage creating 6,780 sq ft of retail/restaurant accommodation. Orms added space in multiple locations around the site making the most of the existing structural frame creating 70 per cent increase in nett lettable area.

View the 2020 winning projects here

Zero Carbon London

→ BREEAM Excellent plus A rated Energy Performance Certificate

→ Carbon saving of 2856 tCO2 through reusing 76% of the existing floor plates

→ Overall embodied carbon 205 kgCO2e/m2

→ Area gain of 6,500 sqm

The former Royal Mail building has been transformed into a contemporary office building, with multiple locations extended across the site. A 60 per cent increase in floor area has created a significant load increase on the existing frame and foundations. The existing structure is less than 50 years old and contained a huge amount of embodied carbon which was there for retained. Preserving as much of the base structure as possible, the project has successfully reduced demolition of the existing structure, reused without strengthening and recycled the floors into flexible workspaces.

Project information

Status

Built

Borough

Islington

Size

204992 sq m

Estimated completion

April 2018

Location

264 Old St, London EC1V 9DD, UK

Team Credits