COMMERCIAL WORKPLACE

2010 saw Eleven Brindleyplace receive the coveted Best of the Best Award. The full list of regional winners for the Commercial Workplace Award are below.

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NATIONAL WINNER
THE MIDLANDS AND EAST ANGLIA

ELEVEN BRINDLEYPLACE, BIRMINGHAM

Eleven Brindleyplace really made its mark on the judges and stood out in both the region and its category. Argent, the developer, set the team clear but aspirational objectives, the outcome of which is the provision of a building that beneficially adds to the legacy of Brindleyplace and re-enforces its position as a scheme of national significance. Number Eleven provides a well thought out solution, which can be differentiated in the marketplace and is a fitting finale to this renowned iconic development.

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REGIONAL WINNER
LONDON AND THE SOUTH EAST

THE CHARLOTTE BUILDING, 17 GRESSE STREET, LONDON

This is an exemplary office development that has been well conceived and executed by the design team and the developer Derwent London. The 49,000 sq ft Charlotte Building emphasises the keen understanding by the developer and its team regarding the office space demands of the target audience.

The positioning of the product and the aesthetic approach are perfect for the media-focused companies demanding space in the “NoHo” area. Lettings to various media-related companies, including film and TV company Icon Entertainment, Converse, and design consultants Brandopus, pay testimony to the success of this positioning and niche design.

With Gresse Street in front, a pedestrian route to the north, Evelyn Yard to the west with a through passage, and the walls of a conservation area to the south, the Charlotte Building is effectively on an island site. Rather than settle for a standard approach, the team has used the advantages of the location to include initiatives such as openable vents and a design that maximises light into the office space.

The tight space constraints have not prevented the architect’s design producing a very useable and practical floor plate, with a 2.85m floor-to-ceiling height, which works well for its occupiers. The reception itself provides a dramatic entrance to Derwent London’s Charlotte Building, which is a worthy recipient of this award.

REGIONAL WINNER
THE NORTH OF ENGLAND, NORTH WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND

1 THE AVENUE, SPINNINGFIELDS, MANCHESTER

With 1 The Avenue, developer Allied London has provided an iconic gateway building to its Spinningfields development. The building sits between two significant Manchester landmarks: one of the finest public libraries in the UK – the Victorian Gothic John Ryland’s Library; and 1 Spinningfields Square, regional headquarters for the Royal Bank of Scotland. The urban response posed a significant challenge to architects Sheppard Robson, who rose to the challenge with the creation of a form that resolves the urban issues using rhomboidal geometry.

The building is small compared with the surrounding Spinningfields developments. As well as 26,500 sq ft of office space, 1 The Avenue houses an Armani flagship store, a bar and a restaurant. The building form is of two parallelograms oppositely handled and positioned over one another, forming a roof terrace to the west and a 23m cantilever to the east. A three-storey high elevational truss was incorporated to resolve the cantilever and the truss was replicated in all elevations to provide the lateral stability of the upper block of the structure, with loads transferred via the floor diaphragms.

The regional judges felt that, while the form of the building led to some compromises on workplace, it created a unique working environment appropriate to Manchester’s contemporary occupiers. The design team has achieved its ambition in “bucket loads”.

REGIONAL WINNER
SCOTLAND

141 BOTHWELL STREET, GLASGOW

This building does what it says on the tin! The building appears to be almost deliberately understated architecturally; however, it exudes corporate quality at street level.

The replacement of a redundant 1960s office building by developer PPG Metro, 141 Bothwell Street creates, with the adjoining Aurora Building, a powerful critical mass at the upper end of Glasgow’s international finance services district. Architect Archial was tasked to provide large, flexible office floor plates for top-end professional firms. This was achieved by intelligent core design and by minimising internal columns to create 18m and 9m structural bays.

Generous riser provision, capacity and flexibility built in for a rooftop tenants’ plant, and a BREEAM “Excellent” rating at design stage (insisted upon in advance by a key tenant), has made this building attractive to a range of occupiers, a number of whom needed to install their own standby generation plant. However, some of the later provisions in order to enhance the BREEAM score half way through, such as a nominal strip of sedum roof covering, might be considered superfluous.

A well-planned central core off a perhaps overdesigned entrance space, maximises flexibility for sub-division on each floor and the result is a building that was 50% pre-let on completion – this was no mean feat in the tough conditions that abounded in February 2009.

REGIONAL WINNER
SOUTH WEST OF ENGLAND AND SOUTH WALES

500 BROOK DRIVE, GREEN PARK, READING

PRUPIM’s 500 Brook Drive makes an immediate impact. On arrival the impressive full-height internal atrium reception immediately orientates the visitor. The office space is organised around this central space with access via stairs and lifts linked across the atrium with a series of bridges and walkways.

The building design, by Scott Brownrigg, utilises glass and steel to maximise views of Green Park. Natural light floods into the office while solar gain is dealt with through the use of high-performance glazing systems and protruding brise soleil.

The attention to detail, combined with a good use of materials, demonstrates the fact that all areas of this design have been thoroughly considered. The displacement ventilation strategy with ceiling-mounted chilled beams offers a low-energy solution.

The judges felt that the quality of the environment and the rationale behind the building’s organisation was exemplar in taking the client’s needs of flexible and easily adaptable workspace to providing a workplace that does so much more.

Developed to become the new headquarters building for a major international pharmaceuticals company, this building has all the makings of a vibrant corporate workplace. Joining a number of signed-up but unoccupied properties on Green Park, the judges can only hope that within a short time this exceptional development fulfils its true potential.