Following years of unsympathetic alterations, EPR’s design re-establishes the lost grandeur of this impressive five-storey Victorian building whilst making bold interventions that safeguard its future as a viable workplace — providing a variety of spaces tailored to the needs of our design teams that reflect and enable our collaborative style of working.

A series of new openings that cut through the exterior walls provide visual and physical connectivity between the wings whilst also creating a variety of vibrant spaces to work and socialise. Our approach to the scheme's interiors was heavily influenced by the existing fabric and layers of history on display. A cantilevered stone staircase, mosaic tiled floors and original brickwork have all been carefully retained and celebrated by pairing them with complementary new finishes. New bespoke hand-glazed tiles by world-renowned ceramic artist Kate Malone also complement the examples of craftsmanship retained in the building.

Externally the design sympathetically restores the main front façade; to the rear two modern contemporary extensions finished in zinc clearly distinguish themselves from the building's historic façades. Enhanced wellbeing measures incorporate a strong focus on improved amenity spaces and facilities. These include the introduction of a large central social hub; for informal meetings, lunch and social events; a wellness room, green terraces and extensive cycle and end-of-journey facilities. Throughout the studio, biophilia has been used to complement the broad range of external planting.

An exemplar of sustainable refurbishment, the scheme redefines the role of the existing All Saints building in a modern context. The use of embodied carbon was carefully monitored with embodied carbon analysis and kept to a minimum through informed design choices. The scheme sought to reuse existing materials wherever possible, sensitively reclaiming bricks from the demolished extensions and refurbishing existing finishes, such as the original tiled floors. New materials introduced to the building, such as the hybrid steel and timber structure used to form the new extensions, were selected for their low carbon content.

The footprint of the building during its operational life has been significantly improved by EPR's sustainability strategy. A fabric-first approach was adopted to sympathetically upgrade and replace poor performing existing building elements with new thermally efficient alternatives. This approach, combined with a mixed-mode ventilation strategy that allows passive cooling of the studio spaces via natural ventilation and an all-electric heating and cooling system, will enable the building to be Net Zero Carbon in operation.

The scheme has also achieved BREEAM Excellent and embodies many of the WELL Standards.