Overlooking Silicon Roundabout in London's tech city is the newest and most progressive project of AHMM. Over the past 20 years, they have worked with developer giant, Derwent, in researching the ideal office environment, and White Collar Factory is the result of 8 years of this partnership. Not only did the team build on their experience and research over the past decades, but they went as far as to set up a 325sqm ‘slice’ of the White Collar Factory on site in 2013 in order to test their model for a year. The results of which informed the final designs of the main building, and encouraged buy-in from this early stage.  

The White Collar Factory complex comprises of six buildings, making over 27,000 sqm set around a new area of public realm. This development will be home to offices, workshops, apartments, and restaurants, to list just a few. The configuration of these volumes (a 22,900sqm new tower, and five 4-5 storey buildings) allows a public permeability, reflecting the contextual urban grain and encouraging a sense of a public community.

Simon Allford, Director, AHMM says:

“White Collar Factory is the product of over twenty years of collaboration with Derwent London. What began as a research project into the design of an idealised 21st-century office building evolved over time into a suite of six buildings of light, volume and character, gathered around a new public space, Old Street Yard. Each of the six, through their generosity, elegantly and economically accommodate the programmes of today, those we anticipate in the future and those we cannot yet imagine.”

Taking inspiration from the longevity of the surrounding 19th Century warehouses, throughout the development there are deep plans and high ceilings This is a project that was ‘designed to achieve more with less’, including using the concrete not only to form the structure and be part of the aesthetic but to provide thermal mass and to carry embedded water pipes. This simple passive facade and smart servicing make this high tech building timeless, flexible, and unassumingly brilliant. Almost unbelievably, the sixteen-storey tower has a 150m running track on the roof, sheltered from view and the elements by the concrete facade which extends beyond roof height.

The low-cost, low-energy building has a flexibility which is all-important when looking at future use and future users. The ‘loose-fit’ of the building will allow future tenants to make the space within the 53 x 41m floors work best for them. Depending on how the space is used, tenants can expect to see a reduction in operational energy costs of up to one third, and a 25% decrease in carbon emissions, compared to a typical office building.

Shunning the approach of the glass facade, AHMM focused on minimising the impact of the likely effects of climate change by designing the building to be 70% naturally ventilated, with manually openable windows being controlled by the user, and a concrete core that decreases changes to the constant temperature. The development is rated EPC A, BREEAM

Outstanding and LEED Platinum, and features a two-level basement cycle hub with room for almost 300 bikes.

As a result of this building being so thoroughly considered, and its ideas so rigorously tested, the White Collar Factory is 87% pre-let, with much of the remaining space under offer. The hope for this building is that it's pragmatic and conscious ethos encourages others to follow in the environmental and logical thinking of Derwent and AHMM.