In an insight article first published by Unlock Net Zero, our director Gareth Atkinson explores how, through the right connections, we can build better buildings, places and spaces:

In the late 1970s, scientist and environmentalist James Lovelock devised the ‘Gaia Hypothesis’, the notion that the earth functions as a self-regulating and interdependent system.

Over time, it’s become a theory supported by ever-greater evidence. Part of the challenge we face in repairing the damage we have caused to our natural environment is dealing with its inter-connectivity – that nature is made up of a system of systems. Our response, therefore, must not simply put a plaster over a wound. It must respond to the corporeal threat in a holistic way, acknowledging the connections.

By way of example, consider the transformation of the former House of Fraser department store – renamed The Elephant by our client – at 318 Oxford Street, London. It serves as a study in adaptive reuse – updating the building for contemporary needs with minimal intervention and minimal environmental impact. Civic Engineers are helping to transform this 1930s building into a destination fit for its storied location, helping to re-energise this stretch of one of the world’s most famous shopping streets.

Retaining much of the existing structure and facade, the transformed Art Deco building will shift from its previous singular commercial use to a place of entertainment and lifestyle: with three levels of gym and swimming pool amenities from the basement to the first-floor, with retail spaces reinstated, and offices above. Three structurally light-weight storeys of food-and-beverage provision will be added to its skyline to help fund the retrofit and retention.

This brief reflects wider lifestyle changes: not only shopping and consumption patterns, but also the desire for more localised living and working options, and workspaces with amenities on-site. People are also appreciating features that retain a sense of a building’s social history and previous uses, where the story of a building is written into its distressed steel beams and characterful concrete.

On this project, a fortuitous steel reuse exchange was brokered between Basil Demeroutis at FORE Partnership and me, on the back of an industry bicycle ride. It means that a lot of the 1930s steel we have dismantled from the site has been reused at TBC London, a workspace that will be net zero in its operation. We will also be reusing what we can on-site. Precast floor beams will be sprayed with a thick fire retardant material which will cover up any holes, and some localised repair work will be performed on the concrete-encased beams. Circular columns will be protected with intumescent paint and left exposed: a ‘distressed’ look that reflects the past lives of the building. It’s an approach reflected in our own London studio on Shad Thames, once a riverside grain store, where many of the original structural features remain intact.

It all sounds great, but what do these design decisions mean for carbon usage? Our more progressive clients are actively looking for projects that live up to their ambitions for reduced carbon use and carbon waste. The thoughtful retrofit at Oxford Street is seeing us extend upwards by only one floor, where tight floor-to-ceiling heights meant the existing floor was not tenable for future use. Extending any further would have necessitated significant investment, and highly carbon-intensive strengthening of columns down the building. Upfront carbon calculations for The Elephant currently come out at 103kgCO2/m2 for the structure, incorporating the higher embodied carbon of 279 kgCO2/m2 of the new structural elements – which has saved nearly 2/3rds of the embodied carbon cost of a completely new building.

But that is only part of the story. The success of any building also relies on the success of its context more holistically – how it connects. At Civic Engineers, we developed what we call our Civic Conscience, a set of behavioural principles shaped by our values, that acts as a decision making framework and something that we use to guide our business strategy and operational choices.