Blackfriars Crown Court is being redeveloped to create 385,000 sq ft of contemporary and sustainable office, commercial and community space. It will be London's first office building to deliver a rooftop urban forest of over 100 established trees and 10,000 plants. The building will have best in class environmental and wellbeing accreditations including BREEAM 'Outstanding’, WELL Platinum and WiredScore Platinum. 25,000 sq ft is dedicated to affordable workspace.
Designed by award-winning architects Studio RHE and Sheppard Robson, the existing two-storey court building will be extended to six storeys using a lightweight hybrid steel and CLT frame.
The timber-clad office spaces will have generous floor to ceiling heights, an abundance of natural light and opening windows for natural ventilation, demand controlled underfloor ventilation to optimise Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) as well as removable timber floors to allow maximum flexibility through the space.
Workers will have access to their own rooftop private terraces as well as showers, changing rooms and extensive cycle racking to aid sustainable travel patterns.
The public and local community will have access to the Harris Bugg designed 1.4 acre urban forest rooftop which will have a rooftop restaurant and bar together with a glass floored infinity edge swimming pool heated by the building's waste heat.
Amenities at street level include an accessible green atrium, auditorium and community space and café. A new thoroughfare between adjoining streets will run through the heart of the building, creating further links to the neighbourhood.
