Space House Shortlisted for IStructE Awards 2024

We are delighted to share that Space House has been shortlisted for this year’s IStructE Awards 2024.

The IStructE Awards have celebrated structural engineering excellence for over 50 years. The awards also celebrates engineering changes in response to the needs of a society including creative design.

An icon of mid-sixties brutalist architecture, Space House is being reimagined as a modern workspace for a city’s population that has grown by nearly 1.5M since it was originally constructed. Designed in 1968 by George Marsh, Richard Seifert and C.J. Pell and Partners (now Pell Frischmann), and is noticeable for its innovative cylindrical design and cruciform façade, which sits upon y-shaped supports.

As part of the development, the high-quality office space has achieved Net Zero targets and has significantly reduced embodied carbon by retaining and repurposing the existing structure. Rather than concealing the structure’s brutalist origins, the concrete frame’s inner workings are revealed celebrating the innovation and imperfections of the original building.

As part of the development, a ‘use less’ approach throughout the project has minimised additional carbon. Vertical extensions were carefully added, and core areas were remodelled to meet current standards, improving workspace quality, enhancing natural daylight, and creating additional office space with 360-degree views across London.

Pell Frischmann is providing Structural Engineering and underground drainage services for Space House’s refurbishment.

Pell Frischmann is working closely with the client Seaforth Land and architects Squire & Partners, on a stripped back proposal which maintains the spirit of Seifert’s design and maximises the development potential of the original concrete structure.

On being shortlisted for the award, our Buildings Sector Director, Jonathan Childs said:

We are all delighted that Space House has been shortlisted for the IStructE awards. To reduce our carbon production we need to re-use more, Space House is an exemplary example of reuse and circularity, saving 10,000 tonnes of embodied carbon, whilst providing a stunning modern workspace.