Confidential Financial Services Client

Overview

Opportunity

Solution

Impact

Team

Creating a luxury workplace, sustainably. Set opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, this reimagined workplace combines global ambition with a distinctly London identity, balancing refined hospitality, employee experience, and responsible design.

Location

London, UK

Client

Confidential

Expertise

Financial Services Climate Action & Sustainability Brand Design

Opportunity

Working from a brief that championed wellness and choice, the team curated a variety of spaces to support both collaboration and focus.

The layout orients users toward St Paul’s, with panoramic views framed by brick-lined internal ‘streets’ and a central green spine that channels the adjacent park into the heart of the floorplate. In this new space for the client, and in contrast to their previous space, private offices have been positioned away from the perimeter to allow natural light to be shared more equitably. The internal layout consists of a continuous amenity-rich ribbon, combining reception, quiet library, café, lounge, and flexible meeting spaces, acting as both workplace and welcome zone and creating destinations that balance productivity with hospitality.

Why This Matters

01
Local Identity Merged With Global Vision
Inspired by London’s iconic institutions, the trust and gravitas of St Paul’s, the innovation of the Tate, and the strategic energy of the Stock Exchange, the design blends local storytelling with this firm’s global perspective.
02
Destinations Balancing Productivity and Hospitality
The new office, and in contrast to their previous space, private offices have been positioned away from the perimeter to allow natural light to be shared more equitably.
03
Sustainable Understated Luxury
A 44% reduction in embodied carbon shows how natural, tactile materials can deliver warmth, craftsmanship, and refinement while supporting a lower-impact workplace.

FPO Quote

Solution

The design organises the workplace around a connected sequence of spaces that encourage movement, interaction, focus, and memorable client experiences.

Gensler organised the workplace around a continuous amenity spine linking reception, library, café, lounges, meeting rooms, and flexible work settings. Brick-lined internal streets frame views towards St Paul's, while a planted green spine visually extends the neighbouring park into the floorplate. Relocating private offices away from the façade distributes daylight more evenly across the workplace, creating an environment that balances concentration, collaboration, privacy, and social interaction.

From brief to delivery: translating London's character into a workplace shaped by collaboration, sustainability, and carefully crafted design decisions.

The design process began by translating the client’s global standards into a workplace rooted in its London setting. Gensler explored local references, materiality and hospitality alongside different ways of working, developing a balance between focused, collaborative and client-facing spaces. Life Cycle Assessment informed decisions throughout design development, helping the team test materials and retain existing elements where possible. This iterative approach brought sustainability and craft together, ensuring lower-impact choices contributed to the workplace’s warmth, refinement and distinctly local character.

Design Principles

Concept diagrams translate the client's values into workplace principles that guide planning, materiality, and user experience.

Impact

The completed workplace strengthens client experience, supports evolving ways of working, and delivers measurable environmental improvements.

Employees benefit from greater workplace variety, shared daylight, adaptable client spaces, and specification changes that reduce embodied carbon by 44%.

What Changed Because of This

01
Curated Identity
Developed collaboratively from the outset, a curated art programme brings together sculpture, bespoke furniture and local references to create a layered expression of the client’s identity.
02
Shared Daylight
Private offices moved away from the perimeter, allowing more people to benefit from natural light and views toward St Paul’s.
03
Carbon Reduction
Life Cycle Assessment informed three specification changes that delivered a 44% reduction in embodied carbon.

We wanted to create a refined, distinctly London workplace where sustainability, craft and hospitality come together to elevate the everyday experience.

Recognition

01

NA

02

NA

03

NA

Team

Project Leadership

Lindsay Roth

Lindsay is a Design Director and Principal in Gensler’s London office. With more than 20 years’ experience, she has created workplaces that connect business strategy, human experience and design to support the evolving needs of organisations and their people.

[FPO] Katie Bell

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FAQ

01

Where is this Confidential Financial Services Client located?

This Confidential Financial Services Client is located at 25 Cannon Street in London, United Kingdom, across from St Paul’s Cathedral.

02

Who designed this Confidential Financial Services Client’s London office?

Gensler designed the workplace to support collaboration, client engagement, wellbeing, and flexible working.

03

What was the main design idea?

The design blends London storytelling with global perspective, drawing inspiration from St Paul’s, Tate, and the Stock Exchange.

04

How does the workplace support employees?

It offers varied settings for focus, collaboration, wellbeing, mentorship, client hosting, and more equitable access to natural light.

05

How does the project support sustainability?

A Life Cycle Assessment informed three specification changes that delivered a 44% reduction in embodied carbon. The project has the ambition to achieve BREEAM UK RFO “Excellent” rating.

06

What makes the client suite flexible?

Operable walls allow the client suite to open into the lounge and café for larger gatherings, town halls, and social events.

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Related Expertise

Financial Services Climate Action & Sustainability Brand Design

Creating a luxury workplace, sustainably. Set opposite St. Paul’s Cathedral, this reimagined workplace combines global ambition with a distinctly London identity, balancing refined hospitality, employee experience, and responsible design.

Working from a brief that championed wellness and choice, the team curated a variety of spaces to support both collaboration and focus.

Why This Matters

The design organises the workplace around a connected sequence of spaces that encourage movement, interaction, focus, and memorable client experiences.

From brief to delivery: translating London's character into a workplace shaped by collaboration, sustainability, and carefully crafted design decisions.

The completed workplace strengthens client experience, supports evolving ways of working, and delivers measurable environmental improvements.

What Changed Because of This

Recognition

NA

NA

NA