Shaping London’s future
Scaling innovation for a greener city
With around 70% of London’s building stock pre-dating 2000 and non-domestic buildings accounting for 23% of operational carbon, the next wave of construction must be smarter, faster and greener. Attendees agreed that while the industry has significant technical expertise, the scale and pace required for widespread retrofit and cut and carve adoption remains a major challenge. Many firms are not yet fully prepared to deliver complex retrofit projects across the city at the speed that the market demands.
The ability to innovate and design buildings with long-term flexibility was seen as essential to ensure they can be repurposed as needs evolve. Market capacity was also raised as a key concern, with questions over whether smaller contractors have the capability and sustainability credentials to deliver technically complex projects to the required standard.
Policy and incentives were discussed as crucial levers for driving wider adoption, with planning flexibility, financial support and ESG-focused measures all identified as ways to stimulate investment in retrofit. Attendees also emphasised the transformative potential of material reuse, including steel, foundations and facades, noting that circular economy principles and material passports could embed sustainability throughout a building’s lifecycle. Collaboration, data sharing and the development of industry-wide knowledge systems were identified as essential to accelerate innovation, de-risk projects and ensure lessons learned are consistently applied at scale.
Digital methodologies
Material reuse and circular economy principles
Industry-wide knowledge sharing and data systems
Early engagement and integrated delivery
Early engagement is essential. We want contractors involved with the design team from the outset to give us certainty on buildability and risk. But there also needs to be a behaviour shift, recognising that real value comes from early advice and finding ways to demonstrate it."
Kier has handed over a new 150,000 sq ft state-of-the-art home for life science organisations in the UK at the Advanced Research Clusters (ARC) West London Refinery Building development in Hammersmith.
Located close to the River Thames, the project included the extension and full reconfiguration of the existing four-storey building on site.
An additional two-storey extension of laboratory and event space was added, together with a green biodiverse roof for encouraging habitat creation and a new corrosion resistant façade emblemised with Corten steel. Designed to meet ambitious goals in sustainability, efficiency and adaptability, the concrete structure was retained to reduce demolition waste and conserve embodied carbon.
Combining technical capability, including our retrofit and repurpose expertise with our in-house Mechanical and Electrical (M&E), Design and decarbonisation and digital teams, we delivered a highly sustainable, high-spec laboratory, research and development space all under one roof.
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