110 The Queens Walk

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

Gensler is transforming London’s former City Hall into an open, low-carbon destination that reconnects workplaces, public life, landscape, and the River Thames.

Location

London, United Kingdom

Expertise

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

Opportunity

Vacant since the GLA’s departure, London’s former City Hall needed relevance and a viable new purpose that could preserve its iconic identity while overcoming its limitations.

Designed as a highly specific civic headquarters, the building struggled to support a broader future. Its sloping façade and inclined columns created inefficient floorplates that were difficult to use. The complex façade system was hard to clean and maintain, and offered limited adaptability overall. At ground level, a defensive edge expressed as a ramp along the façade restricted its relationship with the surrounding public realm. This presented an opportunity to adjust the landmark's recognizable silhouette while retaining its substantial existing structure — creating flexible workplaces, public-facing uses, improved environmental performance, and a more welcoming destination for Londoners and visitors.

Why This Matters

01
Preserving a London Landmark
The building’s unmistakable silhouette forms part of London’s riverside identity. Any transformation had to retain that recognition while giving the structure a credible long-term future.
02
Reconnecting to the River
Despite its prominent setting, the former civic headquarters was inward-looking and difficult to access. Its next life needed to engage more openly with the Thames and public realm.
03
Avoiding Unnecessary Replacement
The existing structure represents substantial embodied carbon and material value. Demolition would erase that investment rather than test how a complex landmark could be adapted.

Client does not want to be featured

Solution

The design retains the building’s defining form while straightening its edges, opening its ground floor, and wrapping every level with landscape and fresh air.

Gensler retains the existing core and much of the superstructure while replacing the complex double-skin façade with a simpler, higher-performing envelope. Straightened façades and columns create efficient, adaptable floorplates, while terraces provide outdoor space, biodiversity, shading, and panoramic views. At ground level, retail, dining, cultural uses, and an improved Scoop amphitheater activate the riverside setting. A triple-height reception draws its material language from the Thames, connecting the building’s new workplace identity with the history and character of Potters Fields Park.

From brief to build: how an expired, sealed landmark was opened and reworked into a more accessible, integrated part of the London South Bank.

The transformation focused on changing how the building meets the city. The existing sealed glass envelope is replaced with a more open, responsive façade that improves usable space, access, maintenance, and environmental performance. At ground level, the building is reshaped to create new entrances, visual connections, active frontages, and a stronger relationship with ‘The Scoop’ and surrounding public realm. Above, terraces, planting, and operable elements bring people closer to fresh air, landscape, and views, turning an inward-looking landmark into a more connected and welcoming destination.

Building a Holistic Sustainability Strategy

Renewed purpose within the London Skyline

Reshaping the Ground Plane

The southern facade was adjusted to create more space between the envelope and the core, providing internal space for public use and a more inclusive experience around the perimeter of the building.

Impact

The transformation is designed to return a vacant civic landmark to London as an active workplace, public destination, and more resilient riverside neighbor.

Retained structure, flexible offices, planted terraces, and public-facing uses are expected to create long-term environmental, commercial, and civic value from one intervention.

What Changed Because of This

01
Public Destination
New entrances, active frontages, improved routes, and a reworked Scoop turn the building’s edge into a more open and accessible riverside destination.
02
Flexible Workplace
Rationalized floorplates, terraces, natural ventilation, and integrated amenities create a workplace that can support different occupiers and adapt over time.
03
Lower-Carbon Future
Retained structure, material reuse, passive design, and all-electric systems reduce reliance on new construction while improving the building’s long-term environmental performance.

110 The Queen’s Walk reimagines a London landmark for the future, combining adaptive reuse, sustainability and inclusive design to create a vibrant destination for all.

Recognition

01

Dezeen

Gensler’s design vision for the iconic City Hall in London has been unveiled.

02

The London Standard

A new chapter for a London landmark, with Gensler’s plans to create a sustainable destination on the South Bank.

03

Architects’ Journal

Gensler’s design approach to bring new life to a former City Hall building.

Team

Project Leadership

Valeria Segovia

Valeria is Managing Director and Principal at Gensler Madrid. She has more than 20 years’ experience helping clients transform and reposition existing assets to create long-term value. Her expertise spans adaptive reuse, workplace and sustainable design, with a focus on design strategies that balance commercial, environmental and human priorities.

[FPO] Ben Minton

Placeholder for office leadership name "Ben Minton" — no matching pagePeople yet. "pnpm migrate resolve-stubs" swaps this for the real page once it exists.

[FPO] Caroline Koo

Placeholder for office leadership name "Caroline Koo" — no matching pagePeople yet. "pnpm migrate resolve-stubs" swaps this for the real page once it exists.

[FPO] Rowan Parnell

Placeholder for office leadership name "Rowan Parnell" — no matching pagePeople yet. "pnpm migrate resolve-stubs" swaps this for the real page once it exists.

FAQ

01

What was 110 The Queen’s Walk originally designed for?

The building opened in 2002 as City Hall, the headquarters of the Greater London Authority. It became vacant after the GLA relocated in 2021.

02

How much of the original building is being retained?

The design retains the existing core, basements, superstructure, and part of the floor slabs.

03

How will the building be used after the transformation?

The proposals combine workplace with public-facing retail, dining, cultural, and event uses, including four commercial units and a new food hall.

04

How is the project improving public access?

New routes, external lifts, seating, planting, and active ground-floor uses make the building and The Scoop easier to access and navigate.

05

What sustainability standards is the project targeting?

The project is targeting EPC A, NABERS 5 stars, BREEAM Outstanding, and WELL Platinum.

06

How is the project reducing embodied carbon?

The design retains major structural elements, reuses existing materials, specifies recycled and locally sourced products, and avoids unnecessary demolition and replacement.

Related Work

project

10 Gresham Street

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.

project

100 New Bridge Street

Gensler transforms a 1990s City of London office into a high-performance commercial building that finds new value in what already exists.

project

The Acre

Gensler transformed a former inward-looking bank into a sustainable workplace that preserves its character while reconnecting the building with the surrounding neighbourhood.

project

[FPO] The Goodsyard

Placeholder — not migrated yet.

Related Expertise

Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Building Transformation Adaptive Reuse Cities Urban Design Climate Action Sustainability

Gensler is transforming London’s former City Hall into an open, low-carbon destination that reconnects workplaces, public life, landscape, and the River Thames.

Vacant since the GLA’s departure, London’s former City Hall needed relevance and a viable new purpose that could preserve its iconic identity while overcoming its limitations.

Why This Matters

The design retains the building’s defining form while straightening its edges, opening its ground floor, and wrapping every level with landscape and fresh air.

From brief to build: how an expired, sealed landmark was opened and reworked into a more accessible, integrated part of the London South Bank.

The transformation is designed to return a vacant civic landmark to London as an active workplace, public destination, and more resilient riverside neighbor.

What Changed Because of This