Hawkins\Brown is restoring Waltham Forest’s Grade II-listed Town Hall, transforming the site into a vibrant neighbourhood where council staff, local businesses and residents can come together.

Hawkins\Brown is restoring Waltham Forest’s Grade II-listed Town Hall and transforming the surrounding landscape into a vibrant neighbourhood where council staff, local businesses and residents can come together.

Whilst numerous historic town halls are converted into luxury homes, hotels or venues, Waltham Forest has decided to retain the building’s original purpose and redevelop it to accommodate their changing needs and objectives.

A key challenge has been balancing the need for transformation and conservation - determining which elements to retain and enhance, and which to alter and improve.

The civic campus is a democratic place where staff, residents and visitors will always feel welcomed and involved. A flexible foyer, accommodating everything from collaborative working to evening events, welcomes visitors, while the civic suite is transformed into a home for community celebrations and council business. An interactive water-feature replaces the tired fountain at the main entrance while also forming a fully accessible forecourt to host large-scale events.

Cellular offices are replaced with open-plan, agile workspaces to promote collaboration and productivity. Design elements which support adaptability, wellbeing and environmental factors include:

• Dual/triple aspect workspaces with better lighting, views out and ventilation
• Use of colours and artwork to promote a sense of identity and improve inclusivity
• Specification of natural, non-toxic, robust, hygienic materials
• Natural or mixed-mode ventilation, with assisted cooling where required, to provide thermal comfort and allow users to have control over their own environment
• New double-glazing to improve thermal envelope and control overheating
• Acoustic treatment to improve acoustic absorption and separation
• Biophilic design utilising natural materials and incorporating greenery and water-feature
• Robust services infrastructure to allow for easy maintenance and replacement as required
• Open-plan layout, enabled by the existing structural grid, furnished with loose furniture and strategically located power and data to allow future adaptability
• Safe and varied external spaces

Ryoko Kawaguchi
Associate
Hawkins\Brown

The most challenging aspect of the project was to create an agile workplace that caters for today’s working practices while offering an improved energy performance within the constraints of a Grade-II listed building. By opening up small, cellular offices, we achieved open-plan ‘neighbourhoods’ with better ventilation, lighting, thermal comfort and acoustics, creating a range of spaces to support different activities from focused to collaborative working. We planned for long-term adaptability to cater for Council’s changing needs and workplace standards through flexible spatial organisation and robust IT and services infrastructure, while making sure to preserve the heritage value of the building.