EDITOR ’ S CHOICE
Photo : Dirk Lindner
SUSTAINABLE RETROFIT WITH NORDIC COPPER
Adaptive reuse of existing buildings is an essential strategy to reduce embodied carbon , while regenerating our urban environments . An exemplar of this approach – 72 Broadwick Street – is crowned by a profiled roofscape clad in Nordic Brown Light copper from Aurubis .
Set within the Soho Conservation Area , 72 Broadwick Street is a half-acre island site fronting London ’ s iconic Carnaby Street . Originally built in the 1970s as a ‘ brutalist ’ concrete , seven-storey headquarters building , its recent extensive mixeduse redevelopment now provides a range of uses including offices , restaurants , a gym , retail and residential units . Designed by architects Buckley Gray Yeoman ( BGY ) for developer Shaftesbury Carnaby , the regeneration project demonstrates how a diverse range of uses can be accommodated within one urban block in the heart of London .
72 Broadwick Street was recognised as the ‘ Best Mixed-Use Scheme ’ by the 2023 Building London
Planning Awards . As well as requiring major structural alterations and remodelling , the project also presented various challenges for architects BGY , planning consultant Rolfe Judd and main contractor Blenheim House Construction . They included working around the West End ’ s largest electrical substation , keeping existing ground floor units operational and minimising impact upon a major retail destination . The building ’ s exterior has been transformed with new fenestration throughout , new feature brickwork and existing brickwork treated to give the complete development a contemporary feel .
Reduced Structural Demands The original fifth and sixth storeys were demolished and replaced with extensive , lightweight rooftop additions wrapped in an external skin of Nordic Brown Light copper , creating residential apartments around a central courtyard . Eleven of the fifteen apartments have distinctive pitched roofs that rise and fall to create a dynamic roof profile . Ben Oram , BGY ’ s Head of Technical , said : “ In one of inner
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