The Waterman is one of the largest heritage retrofit projects in Clerkenwell – an ambitious re-imagining of four industrial warehouses within the Clerkenwell Green Conservation Area.

The Waterman is one of the largest heritage retrofits in Clerkenwell - an ambitious re-imagining of four Victorian warehouses within the Clerkenwell Green Conservation Area.

As four separate properties, the existing buildings had become increasingly hard to let due to narrow spaces and a deep plan dominated by circulation. Incremental conversions had left the buildings with a confusing array of tenancies, lacking a cohesive identity and contained within an inefficient, leaky envelope.

BGO tasked Fathom Architects with securing the heritage building’s future by bringing the four separate buildings together to create a fully accessible single workspace with distinct character and an improved carbon footprint.

The building’s scale – at over 70,000sqft – combined with a lack of records presented huge planning, design and construction challenges which demanded collaboration, ingenuity and commitment from the client and design team. Alternative solutions were needed at pace as discoveries were made on site.

Through upgrades to the thermal envelope, demolition of later additions and adding high quality terraces and a sixth floor, we successfully increased the quantity and quality of floorspace within a sensitive conservation context, updating workspace to meet current occupier expectations of flexibility, accessibility and amenities.

The Waterman has been transformed from an inefficient series of tenancies with EPC C-E ratings, to a single EPC A rated workspace with unique character and high-quality amenities. Our collaborative approach demonstrates how a cellular, load-bearing masonry building can be reconfigured to achieve contemporary standards of openness and flexibility. Rather than erase traces of the past, the design allows the warehouses to celebrate each of its lives through honest expression and considered material choices.

This project shows what’s possible when we value existing buildings – however complex – and invest in reducing their carbon footprint with renewed purpose so they continue to contribute to the character of our cities