Situated in London’s Midtown area, 40 Holborn Viaduct showcases how existing commercial buildings can be revitalised to create new value for people, communities and the planet. 

Stretching to 12 storeys in height, 40 Holborn Viaduct will undergo a radical refurbishment over the coming years, as it’s resewn into a future-focused development. The building will comprise approximately 24,000m² office space and 230m² retail floorspace, with adaptable meeting and community event zones, and health and fitness spaces.

It will include a suite of modern features to support its vision of being the place to visit and work. But its ambitions don’t just end there, sustainability is also a key focus of its new design. The building will incorporate a range of carbon-reducing strategies and systems to support its goal of achieving a 5* NABERs rating and BREEAM Outstanding certification.

With extensive experience in delivering complex commercial retrofit projects, our interdisciplinary team was appointed to provide expertise across a number of areas, including building services, energy and sustainability solutions, fire engineering and security consulting.

Location

  • London, United Kingdom

Client

  • Nuveen

Architect

  • Eric Parry Architects

Project Status

  • Expected completion ~2028

Key achievements

Existing building retained
~70%
kgCO2eq/m2 for upfront embodied carbon
<500
WELL rating target
Platinum
Website images

Embedding circular economy principles

Existing buildings like 40 Holborn Viaduct provide huge opportunities for recycling and reusing materials, with the project aiming to recycle a minimum of 20% of the existing building’s content. To achieve this, a material audit was conducted to determine how the building could be used as a material bank. This identified the items that could be retained, reused and/or recycled either on the project directly or shared via reuse marketplaces.

Alongside this, the project team implemented a system of digital material passports, encompassing existing and new components of the project. This will track how materials are used throughout the building’s lifecycle, their origin, properties and end-of-life options, all via an online repository. This will improve the way embodied carbon is tracked across the project lifecycle, helping to minimise waste and maximise resource utilisation as much as possible. In fact, the insights from this process uncovered an opportunity to repurpose the stone removed from the original facade – this will be crushed and recycled for terrazzo flooring for another section of the building.

Fostering a greener future

Sustainability is at the heart of 40 Holborn Viaduct’s design, with the building on track to achieve a BREEAM Outstanding rating. The existing natural gas plant will be removed and replaced with a fully electric system. To complement this, 160m² of solar panels will be installed on the roof, with air-source heat pumps and rainwater-greywater harvesting tanks to further reduce the building’s environmental impact.

Additionally, the extensive reuse means that the upfront embodied carbon will be less than 500 kgCO2 equivalent per m². This is below the aspirational Low Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) target of 600 kgCO2 equivalent per m².

Beyond this, our experts also worked closely with the main contractor to convert the sustainability objectives into contractual deliverables and metrics that can be measured and cascaded throughout their supply chain.

Advancing the industry towards net zero

As a testament to its commitment to decarbonising the built environment, 40 Holborn Viaduct was one of four WSP projects registered for the Pilot Testing scheme for the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard. Testing these limits, targets and reporting requirements has further enhanced the building’s low-carbon design, prompting improvements in refrigerant specifications and the selection of heat pumps with lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants. 

These vital insights will be used to inform and drive better carbon outcomes on other similar projects, while accelerating the built environment’s progress towards net zero.

Images are courtesy of ©DBOX for Eric Parry Architects.

At 40 Holborn Viaduct, we’re not only refurbishing a building, we’re rethinking how engineering can drive sustainability. From digital material passports to low-carbon building services, every decision is about future-proofing performance while making a positive impact on communities and the environment.

Explore 40 Holborn Viaduct