10 Gresham Street

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

10 Gresham Street is an adaptive-reuse project that enhances well-being and sustainability by bringing new life to old bones in the City of London.

Location

London, United Kingdom

Client

CBRE Investment Management

Expertise

[FPO] Building Transformation [FPO] Adaptive Reuse [FPO] Cities [FPO] Urban Design [FPO] Climate Action [FPO] Sustainability

Opportunity

Repositioning this 20-year-old asset proved that working with an existing structure can outperform new builds across carbon savings, civic presence, and commercial value.

Twenty years after completion, the building faced severe commercial obsolescence. Over 60% vacant, it carried an EPC E rating, relied on fossil-fuel heating, offered no outdoor amenity, and lacked active-travel facilities. Rather than demolishing the asset, the design team embraced a brown-to-green opportunity. The challenge was to retain the primary superstructure and façade while fundamentally upgrading environmental performance, workplace experience, and commercial appeal — all while critical lower levels, including live financial trading floors, remained fully occupied and in operation.

Why This Matters

01
Future Focused Reuse
Architectural legacy should evolve rather than be overwritten. Augmenting the existing high-tech design instead of demolishing saved significant upfront carbon while respecting City character.
02
Curated Experience
Modern work demands holistic wellness. Transforming corporate floorplates with hospitality arrival, daylight-filled atriums, and extensive active-travel facilities drives long-term tenant appeal and retention.
03
Resilience as Design Driver
True circularity happens on site. Making material reuse a prominent feature of design directly connects sustainable practices with the City's historic Livery traditions.

We’ve transformed an iconic City of London building into a highly sustainable, Grade A workspace designed for the future of work.

Solution

The architecture layers crafted heritage and wellness-driven design onto retained structure, creating a biophilic, fully electric asset that engages the City's network of hidden gardens.

The scheme retains the superstructure, replacing end-of-life plant with all-electric air-source heat pumps and greywater harvesting. Reclaiming 32,600 tonnes of base-build granite created tactile terrazzo finishes throughout. Wellness anchors the journey: a hospitality arrival lounge, daylit central atrium with biophilic pods, and class-leading end-of-travel facilities with ActiveScore accreditation. At the crown, a mass-timber pavilion and 5,146-square-foot landscaped terrace offer outdoor working and panoramic views toward St. Paul’s Cathedral. The result balances warm craftsmanship with low-impact materials for sustainable renewal.

From brief to build: metrics-based analysis and tenant wellbeing guided complex structural and interior interventions while maintaining a partly occupied building site.

With a goal of achieving the most sustainable adaptive reuse project possible, every design move served to enhance constructability, cultural context, and sustainability. The team treated the building as an on-site material bank, remanufacturing strip-out stone and repairing 13,000 square meters of existing raised flooring. Delivering a 46% operational energy improvement, high-efficiency MEP systems and mass-timber extensions were prefabricated off-site for rapid assembly. The entire section was choreographed to curate daily rituals across arrival, end-of-trip, and rooftop amenities without disrupting active tenants below.

A Garden Within a City

Tapping into London's network of hidden gardens, the building weaves biophilic heritage directly into architecture and daily occupant wellbeing.

Impact

10 Gresham Street establishes a blueprint for London, showing how sensitive, low-carbon retrofits deliver exceptional commercial success and enrich the public realm.

Targeted structural retention paired with all-electric performance transformed an obsolete, 60%-vacant building into a fully let City asset, competing head-to-head with new-build competition.

What Changed Because of This

01
Urban Realm & Skyline
Sterile street frontage was replaced by a timber arrival threshold, while the mass-timber rooftop terrace unlocks previously inaccessible vistas across the skyline.
02
Decarbonisation
An inefficient, fossil-fuel dependent building was converted into a zero-emission, all-electric workplace, securing significant operational carbon savings across its entire lifecycle.
03
Market Life
An underperforming building facing high vacancy was repositioned as a premier, fully let business address, attracting major global anchors and widespread industry acclaim.

Thoughtfully evolving what was already standing, we unlocked the building’s full potential by pairing architectural rigour with class-leading wellness and biophilia.

Recognition

01

City AM

Gensler, partnering with CBRE Investment Management, won planning consent to refurbish 10 Gresham Street into a sustainable, low-carbon London office.

Team

Project Leadership

[FPO] Huasop Lee

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[FPO] Odun Oredein

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[FPO] Harry Cliffe Roberts

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[FPO] Gordon Lindsay

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FAQ

01

What is the project area and capacity?

The eight story commercial building spans 240,164 square feet, featuring 145,000 square feet of upgraded office space alongside a new 5,146 square feet landscaped rooftop garden terrace.

02

Where is the project located and what is its context?

Located in London’s historic financial district (the "Square Mile"), the design honours the site's Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths craft lineage through bespoke detailing and warm metal finishes.

03

What amenities are available to building occupiers?

Occupiers enjoy a hospitable arrival lounge, daylit central atrium breakout pods, 480 cycle spaces with high quality showers, and a biodiverse sky garden terrace with a mass-timber pavilion.

04

What amenities does 10 Gresham Street provide?

Floorplates feature virtually column-free layouts, extensive natural daylight, smart air quality controls, all-electric zero-emission heating and cooling, and enhanced floor to ceiling heights.

05

How does the design support wellbeing?

The scheme achieved EPC B from an EPC E baseline, BREEAM Outstanding, WELL Core Platinum, ActiveScore Platinum, AirRated Platinum, and WiredScore Platinum.

06

How is technology integrated into the building?

The team implemented strict acoustic and vibration monitoring, off-site prefabrication, and heavy crash decks over occupied trading floors, supported by regular tenant engagement to maintain continuous comfort.

Related Work

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[FPO] The Goodsyard

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Related Expertise

Building Transformation Adaptive Reuse Cities Urban Design Climate Action Sustainability

10 Gresham Street is an adaptive-reuse project that enhances well-being and sustainability by bringing new life to old bones in the City of London.

Repositioning this 20-year-old asset proved that working with an existing structure can outperform new builds across carbon savings, civic presence, and commercial value.

Why This Matters

The architecture layers crafted heritage and wellness-driven design onto retained structure, creating a biophilic, fully electric asset that engages the City's network of hidden gardens.

From brief to build: metrics-based analysis and tenant wellbeing guided complex structural and interior interventions while maintaining a partly occupied building site.

10 Gresham Street establishes a blueprint for London, showing how sensitive, low-carbon retrofits deliver exceptional commercial success and enrich the public realm.

What Changed Because of This