This new facility for the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) brings together and develops fresh approaches to sustainability, space planning and new ways of working. It has been designed holistically, with the base building and the fit-out combining through the use of form, colour and light, materials and furniture, the way the building is cooled and its security features all conceived as part of a single unified design.

The project’s key components are protected accommodation for the FCO’s infrastructure network and high-quality, flexible office space, in which the FCO wish to stimulate collaboration amongst the building’s 400+ occupants. The ambition is to fully embrace initiatives for flexible working and to create a dynamic and effective workplace that helps break down barriers between teams within the office environment.

Workspaces can easily be allocated and re-allocated as teams expand or contract and a more effective use of space is achieved through touchdown areas. These are incorporated on each floor, as are support facilities.

Fully functioning meeting pods and break-out spaces are located in the atrium. These allow the standard office accommodation to be optimized for workstations, but also create a dynamic focus at the heart of the building.

The building structure is reinforced concrete and the thermal mass of the concrete is an integral element of the energy strategy that employs natural air movement, heat recovery and carefully selected building systems as part of an environmentally sound approach.

Solar shading minimises heat gain and this varies in form to achieve the maximum benefit, with fins, louvres and a canopy all contributing.

Internally, open-plan areas are cooled by displacement ventilation and chilled beams, while cellular spaces, mainly meeting rooms, have supplementary mechanical ventilation. Rainwater is harvested and used for WC flushing and solar panels supply ‘domestic’ hot water.

The building’s joinery and timber cladding has been specified from sustainable sources.