AJ Retrofit Awards 2022 winners revealed

Retrofit of the Year

16 Chart Street by Ian Chalk Architects (Winner in Workplace up to £5m category)

The thoroughness of the thinking, combined with a deft lightness of touch in the execution, is what is so impressive about this exceptional low-carbon retrofit.

Together with the sensitivity of the architectural design, the ensemble reflects the deep involvement of the client, Heyne Tillett Steel, for whom this ex-warehouse in East London was converted into a new workspace and which participated as structural engineer in the project.

Alongside a full internal and external refurbishment, a panellised timber system was used for new-build elements, including top-floor and side extensions with a new stair and lift core. This maximised efficiency in manufacture and transportation, minimised construction time and material waste and has resulted in richly characterful, light-filled spaces. As one judge commented: ‘I’d love to work there.’

Retaining 86 per cent of the existing structure meant significant amount of embodied carbon were saved, some 362 kgCO₂/m². Based on a BRUKL assessment, the predicted annual energy consumption 94.16 kWh/m²/yr, including regulated and unregulated energy, represents a 44 per cent reduction on the notional Part L figures.

The data-rich analysis that underpins this project – from feasibility to post-occupancy – is exceptional. The post-occupancy data is being assessed and fed into an ongoing study of structural timber efficiency in partnership with the University of Sheffield, the results of which will be made public.

So this is not only a brilliant one-off, but a model that demonstrates the feasibility and replicability of all-timber construction for medium-scale refurbishment projects, even on tight urban sites. RGW

Location London N1 • Client Heyne Tillett Steel • Main contractor Conamar Building Services • Engineer Heyne Tillett Steel • Services engineer Peter Deer and Associates • Completion May 2021 • Occupation May 2021 • Project cost Undisclosed • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-retrofit) 0.96 W/m²K • Embodied/whole-life carbon 362 kgCO₂/m² • Annual energy consumption (predicted) 9,416 Wh/m²/yr

 

Cultural and Religious

Sponsored by VMZINC

National Youth Theatre by DSDHA

The judges hugely admired this project, which reorganised and refurbished the National Youth Theatre’s existing and unloved base in Islington, introducing new timber elements and re-using 90 per cent of the structure and foundation of the former Mission Hall, which dates back to 1872.

Designed ‘with young people, for young people’, the project has improved the legibility of the Holloway Road building as well as adding a 250-seat studio theatre and four new rehearsal spaces. The changes have allowed the theatre to double the number of young people it can work with – from 3,000 to about 6,000 annually.

‘I loved this project,’ one of the judges said simply. ‘The rationale is so strong and clear in terms of how existing places have been revitalised.’ Others were impressed by what had been done with the budget and the key environmental moves, including the ‘significant’ whole-life carbon savings achieved and plans for future energy monitoring. WH

Location London N7 • Client The National Youth Theatre • Main contractor Neilcott Construction • Engineer Akera Engineers • Services engineer cc-be • Completion June 2021 • Occupation June 2021 • Project cost £2.5 million • Embodied/whole-life carbon 209.47 kgCO₂/m² • Annual CO₂ emissions 54.4 kgCO₂/m²

 

Health and Community

The Old Library by OMI Architects

In 2006, the Grade II-listed Carnegie library in Tuebrook, Liverpool, was closed following concerns over health and safety. Left unoccupied and neglected, it ended up on Liverpool’s ‘Buildings at Risk’ register.

But today it is a thriving community hub and childcare facility, following a comprehensive retrofit by OMI for local charity client Lister Steps. The project involved opening up the main elevation of the library to present a welcoming public frontage and creating a central space to provide access to the various functions, including a café, hot desking and office accommodation, alongside the nursery. To the rear, a new extension has added a catering kitchen, children’s dining area and other spaces.

While expressing disappointment over the new gas boiler and air conditioning system, the judges agreed a great deal had been achieved on a limited budget and had kept a fine building in community use. ‘They have absolutely revitalised a building that was at risk,’ one said. WH

Location Liverpool • Client Lister Steps • Main contractor HH Smith • Engineer DP Squared • Services engineer Viridian Consulting • Completion October 2020 • Occupation October 2020 • Project cost £3.8 million • Annual CO₂ emissions 36.6 kgCO₂/m²

 

Higher Education and Campus

Sponsored by TECHNAL

University of Strathclyde, Learning and Teaching Project by BDP

This 20,000m² project, a new learning and teaching building for the city-centre campus of the University of Strathclyde, strips out and reconfigures two existing buildings, the Colville Building and the Category B-listed Architecture Building, and also creates a new-build hub inbetween, which overlooks the university’s Rottonrow Gardens.

The scheme creates a range of new spaces from small breakout spaces to a 400-seat lecture theatre and has resulted in ‘dramatic’ embodied carbon benefits owing to its re-use of the existing structures. According to BDP, the saving equates to 67 per cent CO2e, compared with a notional new build – equivalent to the carbon generated by 3,350 Scottish homes a year. It was an argument which resonated with the judges.

‘It would have been ripe for demolition and rebuilding in many other contexts,’ one judge remarked, while another praised BDP’s ‘powerful’ architectural moves, saying the practice had done ‘something really quite ballsy’ with the existing concrete frames. WH

Location Glasgow • Client University of Strathclyde • Main contractor Balfour Beatty • Engineer Arup • Services engineer Hulley and Kirkwood • Completion April 2021 • Occupation September 2021 • Project cost £45 million • Annual CO₂ emissions (pre-refurbishment) 64.55 kgCO₂/m² • Annual CO₂ emissions (post-refurbishment) 20.41 kgCO₂/m²

 

Hotel, Retail and Leisure

Sponsored by Schlüter-Systems

The Biscuit Factory by Wren Architecture and Design

How to revitalise Britain’s ailing high streets is one of the key regeneration challenges of the day and Wren’s Biscuit Factory in Reading answers this question with aplomb.

The scheme, a three-screen cinema and multipurpose community hub with food stalls and private hire space, is for client Really Local Group, which aims to introduce new cultural uses into existing local social infrastructure.

What was a closed, inaccessible, dark space – previously an Argos stockroom at first-floor level – has been transformed into a light, accessible and sociable space. While re-use and repurpose is very much the order of the day, the architect has created a large window at the front to bring daylight into the main space and opened up the corner above the entrance to create a terrace to animate the area outside. The judges were wowed by what had been accomplished on such a modest budget and described the project as a ‘great model’ for high street redevelopment. WH

Location Reading • Client Really Local Group • Main contractor CT Built • Engineer BJB Consult • Services engineer TJS Electrical • Interior designer Lyttelton Yates • Completion June 2021 • Occupation August 2021 • Project cost £1.6 million • Annual CO₂ emissions Not supplied

 

House up to £500,000

High Sunderland by Loader Monteith

This 1957 Category-A listed Modernist icon, designed by Peter Womersley for Bernat and Margaret Klein, required sensitive and complex restoration following weather and fire damage in 2017. Loader Monteith and the clients saw the accident as a positive opportunity to restore and enhance the woodland retreat in the Scottish Borders to its original Womersley vision, with invisible sustainable upgrades that celebrate the rich history and heritage of the home.

The stand-out category winner ‘keeps the story and the spirit of the building’, said one of our judges. ‘It’s a measured, sensitive approach, and a model of how you collaborate. A real labour of love.’

The practice reduced the annual CO₂ emissions of the house by 23.5 per cent with the addition of a new warm roof and air source heat pump. It also studied the profiles of Womersley’s other residential projects to find a sympathetic design for the new, slightly-pitched roofscape, ensuring it was sympathetic to Womersley’s style while improving the U-value from 0.24 W/m²K to 0.16 W/m²K.

‘They had to navigate difficult constraints,’ said the judges, and the result is ‘elegant, without pastiche’. EB

Location Galashiels, Scotland • Client Private • Main contractor Laurence McIntosh • Engineer David Narro Associates • Services engineer Harley Haddow • Completion August 2020 • Occupation August 2020 • Project cost £290,000 • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (existing) 0.24 W/m²K • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-retrofit) 0.16 W/m²K • Annual CO₂ emissions (pre-refurbishment) 86 kgCO₂/m² • Annual CO₂ emissions (post-refurbishment) 65.79 kgCO₂/m²

 

House £500,000 and over

Notting Hill Mews House by Prewett Bizley Architects

‘It’s an exemplar,’ said our judges of the winner, ‘taking a confident, thorough, methodical and concise approach, with a focus on low carbon emissions and an appreciation of detail and aesthetic.’

The deep retrofit of this west London mews house shows that sustainability aims can go hand-in-hand with a strong design vision. The original house had a generous 8 x 8m floor plan, but a previous development meant it had limited daylight and poorly laid-out rooms. The key intervention was to position a new stairwell in the darkest corner of the building and then flood this space with light from a new rooflight above – a simple but transformational move.

Additionally, the aim was to improve thermal comfort, as the house still had uninsulated brickwork walls and draughty, single-glazed windows. Insulating plaster was made with lime, cork and loam, while new sash windows used evacuated glass. Energy demand is predicted to fall from 55,000 kWhr to 10,000 kWhr in the first year – an 80 per cent reduction. The architects estimate that embodied carbon associated with the works is about 24 tonnes, suggesting that after three years the project will move into carbon-saving mode.

‘There’s a real understanding of the building,’ enthused the judges, pointing out that ‘the simple move around the stairwell has unlocked the potential of the building’. EB

Location London W11 • Client Private • Main contractor Bow Tie Construction • Engineer Solid Geometry Structural Engineers • Services engineer Enhabit • Completion March 2021 • Occupation March 2021 • Project cost £1.05 million • Annual carbon emissions (pre-refurbishment) 50 kgCO₂/m² • Annual carbon emissions (post-refurbishment) 10.5 kgCO₂/m²

 

Housing

Chris Payne House – relocation, reconfiguration and retrofit by McGregor White Architects and AHR

‘It’s a great achievement – a lot of projects talk about this sort of thing and rarely do it,’ said our judges. ‘It demonstrates how flexible and adaptable modular housing can be.’

The winning project is retrofit through-and-through: the disassembly and relocation of an 18-home residential apartment building from Southwark to Ealing, with the aim of repurposing and saving it from demolition. About 95 per cent of the material in the original building was re-used in the relocated scheme.

The original building, completed in 2005, was designed using volumetric and modular construction techniques and Buma, a volumetric fabricator based in Poland. The design allowed for potential changes, additions, or moving the whole building to a new site if required.

During reconstruction the building was re-orientated to fit the new site and re-configured to create larger homes. All apartments were refurbished and upgraded to comply with current building regulations and advanced levels of fire safety. The building now provides high-quality accommodation for 16 families in emergency need.

The project has since inspired the Pan London Accommodation Enterprise (PLACE), a GLA and local authority-sponsored project to provide demountable modular housing on ‘meanwhile sites’ throughout London.

‘They could just have easily taken the building down,’ said the judges, who praised the efficiency of spend and the huge carbon savings in materials. ‘They’ve avoided so much waste. It’s ground-breaking. And it can be done again.’ EB

Location London W7 • Client London Borough of Ealing • Main contractor Kind & Co • Engineer Conisbee • Services engineer White Associates (no longer trading) • Completion June 2020 • Occupation June 2020 • Project cost £853,287 (move and refurbishment) • Annual carbon emissions (pre-refurbishment) 37.8 kgCO₂/m² • Annual carbon emissions (post-refurbishment) 2.2 kgCO₂/m² • Embodied/whole-life carbon 503.44 kgCO₂/m²

 

Listed Building up to £5 million

Hampshire Mill by Kaner Olette Architects and Malcolm Fryer Architects

The judges enjoyed the huge dedication to detail in the repair and rebuild of this project, which placed a huge emphasis on ‘craft and care’.

A Grade II-listed former water mill and residence on the River Test, Bere Mill was almost totally destroyed by a fire in 2018. A three-year project has seen the historic complex meticulously restored through traditional construction techniques, combined with the addition of high-performance new elements.

The West Barn now houses a triple-height gallery space, which can be closed off from the residential spaces with bespoke oak shutters. The Mill houses a restored turbine with a metal-clad ‘pod’ linking it to the main house.

Reclaimed materials have been used throughout and the flintwork of the external envelope has been carefully repaired.

The judges commended the ‘sympathetic’ collaboration between both architecture practices, praising how they ‘managed to blend contemporary approaches with deft restoration’.

‘It’s a strong model for the potential of retrofit,’ they added. FW

Location Whitchurch, Hampshire • Client Private • Main contractor PJ Roper Traditional Building & Carpentry • Engineer WRD Engineers • Services engineer AS Waite and Son • Completion July 2021 • Occupation June 2021 • Project cost £2 million • Annual carbon emissions Not supplied

Listed Building £5 million and over

Sponsored by Selectaglaze

Beton House, Sheffield, by Whittam Cox Architects

This empty 1960s concrete building at Park Hill, Sheffield has been adapted sensitively over five years by Sheffield-based practice Whittam Cox to add student accommodation to Urban Splash’s Grade II-listed regeneration project.

Attempting to address one of the main failings of the estate – single tenure housing – the scheme brings a high-density student community offer through three-storey townhouse typologies.

All done within the constraints of the iconic estate’s architecture, the scheme retains more of the structure’s physical elements than any of the previous refurbishments undertaken on the wider estate, saving a total of 577 tonnes of CO₂e.

As a ‘holistic scheme’, they thought this model of adaption should be celebrated. ‘It’s a lovely project that captures the spirit of the Retrofit Awards,’ they said.

‘What’s nice about this project is that it’s part of what Urban Splash couldn’t do at Park Hill. This has been a distressed building for over 20 years and saving it is a special characteristic of its revitalisation.’ FW

Location Sheffield • Client Alumno Group • Main contractor Kier Construction • Services engineer Cundall • Completion November 2020 • Occupation November 2020 • Project cost £19 million • Annual carbon emissions (post-refurbishment) 16.78 kgCO₂/m² (across whole site), 33 kgCO₂/m² (townhouses) • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-refurbishment) 0.22 W/m²K

 

Schools and Further Education

Snowflake School by Patalab Architecture

This ‘remarkable’ office-to-school conversion creates a learning environment that allows the expanding SEN school to provide specialist care to the local community.

Originally built for the Salvation Army in Acton, the building was last converted in the 1990s to create an open-plan animation studio, with steelwork forming mezzanine levels at either end of the Victorian structure. The space has been reconfigured to create staff rooms on the upper levels with classrooms below and a double-height central space acting as the assembly hall.

The biggest challenges were acoustics and accessibility, and Troldtekt panels were installed at a high datum level, giving the space a ‘human scale’, while adding a warm and calming finish. ‘It’s a wonderful space,’ said the judges.

‘It’s a really interesting project,’ they added. ‘It encapsulates the true definition of retrofit.’ FW

Location London W3 • Client Snowflake School • Main contractor Mark Cox Developments • Services engineer Warburton Building Services • Completion November 2020 • Occupation November 2020 • Project cost £528,295 • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (existing) 1.85 W/m²K • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-retrofit) 0.8 W/m²K • Annual energy consumption (pre-retrofit) 82.87 Wh/m² • Annual energy consumption (post-retrofit) 29.34 Wh/m²

 

Workplace Fit-out

Smithson Tower (The Economist Building) by ConForm Architects

This new HQ for a finance firm on the 11th floor of the Grade II*-listed 1960s building by Alison and Peter Smithson was described by judges as ‘an exemplar fit-out’ that was ‘really elegantly done’. A distinct horizontal sill level datum throughout helps maintain the open-plan feel of the floorplate, while areas that need acoustic separation and privacy, such as meeting rooms, are also accommodated.

Judges were particularly impressed by how historical research into the Smithsons’ concept sketches informed the use of the diagonal as a key feature. ‘It’s really clever how the design interprets aspects of the Smithsons’ drawings’, said one. To reduce energy use, ventilation and lighting systems were adapted using monitors to function only when the space is occupied.

‘A really perfect fit-out: in awe of the control,’ said one judge. ‘Pristine’, ‘well-crafted’, ‘refined’ and ‘really subtle’ others remarked. RGW

Location London SW1 • Client Financial Client • Main contractor OD Interiors • Engineer Campbell Reith • Services engineer GDMP • Completion April 2021 • Occupation April 2021 • Project cost £880,000 • Annual carbon emissions (existing) 142 kgCO₂/m² • Annual carbon emissions (predicted) 140 kgCO₂/m²

 

Workplace up to £5 million

16 Chart Street by Ian Chalk Architects

‘Incredibly thorough,’ said one judge of this retrofit of a 1930s former furniture warehouse in Hoxton into a studio space for structural engineering firm Heyne Tillett Steel.

All-timber construction was used in a combination of cross-laminated timber, glulam and high-strength LVL, with re-use and recyclability maximised and alterations to the original fabric minimised. Some 86 per cent of the existing structure was retained while adding 60+ years of design life. Judges praised the speed of assembly and ‘how it was really well engineered’, as well as the ‘fun and clever’ industrial references, such as the saw-tooth roof, and they were impressed also by how well-presented and explained the project had been.

That the building’s post-occupancy performance is being assessed and will feed into a research study on structural timber in partnership with the University of Sheffield was also picked out by judges as ‘a real selling point’. ‘It is a model with real replicability,’ concluded one. RGW

Location London N1 • Client Heyne Tillett Steel • Main contractor Conamar Building Services • Engineer Heyne Tillett Steel • Services engineer Peter Deer and Associates • Completion May 2021 • Occupation May 2021 • Project cost Undisclosed • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-retrofit) 0.96 W/m²K • Embodied / whole-life carbon 362 kgCO₂/m² • Annual energy consumption (predicted) 9,416 Wh/m²/yr

 

Workplace £5-10 million

The Laszlo by Henley Halebrown

‘An essay in delight: even down to the toilet doors,’ enthused one judge of this remodelled five-storey former mill building in north London, reconfigured as flexible workspace. Dating from about 1900, the original structure has been exposed, while new blockwork partition walls – with a lower embodied carbon than their steel stud wall equivalents – shape interconnected rooms and enclose lifts, staircases and toilets. ‘The grain of the blocks gives a surprising lightness and warmth to the spaces,’ said one judge.

Differently-hued doors throughout, taking their cue from Josef Albers’ colour studies and designed as a ‘gallery’, were judged ‘fun, even though restrained’, ‘giving a very nice legibility to the building’.

The project’s embodied/whole-life carbon is estimated at 700 kgCO₂/m², while annual operational carbon emissions have been reduced by an estimated 47 per cent. ‘Very confident’ and ‘stunning’, was one judge’s summary. ‘Controlled, yet infused with so much personality’ said another. RGW

Location London N19 • Client Dorrington • Main contractor Open Contracts • Engineer Pringuer-James Consulting Engineers • Services engineer Peter Deer & Associates • Completion June 2021 • Occupation October 2021 • Project cost Undisclosed • Area weighted U-value for whole envelope (post-retrofit) 1.72 W/m²K • Annual carbon emissions (predicted) 33.9 kgCO₂/m² • Embodied / whole-life carbon 700 kgCO₂/m²

 

Workplace £10 million and over

Newcastle Civic Centre by FaulknerBrowns

This refurbishment of George Kenyon’s 1968 Grade II-listed Civic Centre was praised by the judges for how it preserved the character of the existing building, stripping the space back to its original fabric and finishes, while making it more engaging and accessible as a civic facility and improving environmental performance by 30 per cent.

‘Comprehensive. The good bones of the architecture have really been brought out’, said one judge.

The enclosure of the ground floor colonnade with a glazed façade, creating a new public entrance out of a previously under-used space, was described by one judge as: ‘Absolutely wonderful: it celebrates the original vaults and creates a beautiful civic space.’ Externally, too, the public realm has been improved to create legible routes around the building. ‘An imaginative transformation with great public benefit,’ was how one judge summarised the scheme. ‘An asset really brought back to life.’ RGW

Location Newcastle upon Tyne • Client Newcastle City Council • Main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine • Engineer WSP • Services engineer Desco • Completion April 2020 • Occupation April 2020 • Project cost £22 million • Annual carbon emissions Not supplied

 

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