Where creativity, multi-disciplinary expertise, and a pioneering sustainable vision combine for the team at Buro Happold, designed by Gensler.
Buro Happold’s new London headquarters in vibrant Shoreditch pushes the boundaries of sustainability, experimentation, and inclusive design.
Spanning four floors of the Featherstone Building, experts across Buro Happold, a prominent multi-disciplinary engineering firm, came together with Gensler’s design team to establish a ‘Home for Big Ideas’ – an innovative 35,000sqft headquarters in the Old Street district. This industrial-inspired headquarters reflects Buro Happold’s expertise, aligns with their brand values, and showcases their creativity through a longstanding design-focused partnership.
Sustainability drove the strategy for this office, focusing on circular economy principles, healthy materials, and low embodied carbon. Gensler integrated eco-friendly materials throughout the design in collaboration with the client’s inclusive design specialists and First Planet.
Materiality was central to the design where materials like smoked cork, timber terrazzo, and charred timber wall cladding were sourced with circularity in mind including Bae, our modular seating collection.
The vision for the Featherstone Building prioritised the integrity of the structure, avoiding unnecessary decoration to highlight and enhance the base build. Several new elements for Buro Happold were also introduced, including a client and visitor welcome area designed as a gallery-like showcase for displaying architectural models and drawings, telling the stories behind their world-class projects.
Floors 7 and 8 offer open-plan hot desking suites, meeting rooms, and break-out areas, while floors 5 and 6 are dedicated to clients and collaborators. A striking mass timber staircase connects these floors, showcasing low-carbon timber construction and displaying project models on warehouse shelving. This is where our Bae seating can be found, encapsulating the foot of the stairwell whilst providing a relaxed seating area where colleagues can relax, socialise, or enjoy informal meetings together. Bae’s organic shaped units provide endless possibilities for space planning, and effortless follow the shaping of the stairwell, as Buro Happold’s brief required.
Bae’s materiality also seamlessly aligns with Buro Happold’s and Gensler’s environmental ambitions and principles, as the materials used in the design are sustainable and the pieces themselves can easily be deconstructed for recycling at the end of their life. Bamboo, one of the fastest growing materials used in furniture design, is the primary material used in Bae’s creation and ash is used in the legs and rear supports is harvested from tree’s already felled due to ash dieback, preventing it from incineration or becoming a waste material.
The building achieved multiple sustainability certifications, including net zero carbon construction and BREAAM Outstanding. The fit-out aims for additional certifications like WELL Platinum and NABERS.
Creating an inclusive office with diverse workspaces was a core project objective, encouraging employees to come to the office in a hybrid working model. Gensler designed neighbourhoods to foster a sense of home, allowing personalisation whilst embracing agile working. Staff involvement in the design process built trust and belonging, with focus groups and workshops addressing wellbeing, accessibility, and inclusivity. Discussions covered gender-neutral facilities, belief rooms, parental spaces, and sensory considerations like lighting and acoustics. Emphasis was also placed on creating restorative outdoor spaces, fulfilled by the outdoor terrace.
