NLA London South Bank University Tour

Senior Design Manager Scarlett Petchey and Design Manager Emily Zinselmeier visited London South Bank University’s London Road building on a guided tour led by Nat Keast from WilkinsonEyre and Lukas Ziak from Eckersley O’Callaghan.

LSBU Hub now houses the University’s relocated library alongside lecture theatres, learning spaces, sports facilities, and catering amenities. This low-carbon retrofit largely retained the existing structure whilst redesigning the entrance and replacing the façade to improve overall energy performance. The 1970s waffle slabs are left exposed, including carbon fibre wraps where required to strengthen the structure without adding additional load to the foundations.

As approximately one third of the UK university estate was built between 1960 and 1979 and will be at the end of its design life soon, Higher Education clients are increasingly choosing to pursue adaptive reuse over demolition in order to meet net-zero carbon pledges in line with 2050 targets. Working with existing buildings, Lukas explained the importance of comprehensive as-built information. Plan A understand the value of developing design programmes that build in time for iterative survey works and subsequent amendments to the design in the early work stages of a project.

Thank you to the Building Centre for hosting such an informative tour via the Retrofit series, and we look forward to the next event!

#designmanagement #highereducation #architecture #retrofit #netzero