NLA’s latest research report ‘Adaptive London: Reusing Existing Buildings’ is a welcome clarion call for retrofit and reuse across the capital. Not just as an essential response to the climate emergency but also as a key driver of economic growth.
Fabrix Director Debbie Whitfield was a keynote speaker, alongside Leanne Tritton of growing UK campaign Don’t Waste Buildings and Fred Pilbrow of architectural practice Pilbrow & Partners.
Reflections were on the capital’s long-standing position as a global leader in adaptive reuse, the urgent need to tackle our existing building stock at scale and at pace, and lessons learned on how the industry can best rally together to do just that.
We’re thrilled to have a number of Fabrix projects featured in the report and accompanying project directory:
🌿182-202 Walworth Road – our PBSA-led, mixed use repurposing of a stranded office in Elephant & Castle
🌳 Bow Bells – the creative and focussed repositioning of a 216,000 sq ft office building in the heart of the City, with nature reprioritised
🟡 HAUS 1 – a tired nineties office building tranformed into a sunshine yellow, bold new entrance for the Atelier Gardens impact campus in Berlin
🏭 The Bottle Factory – the restoration and reimagination of a neglected Victorian warehouse complex as home to a new community of makers, creatives and urban industry stalwarts
Download the full report here.
“As the NLA’s report clearly sets out, London’s expertise as a city in reinventing itself and its buildings is nothing new.
What has changed, however, is the sense of urgency. The climate emergency is such that we simply have no choice – and a moral duty – to get on with the mammoth task of retrofitting and finding new uses for our existing building stock.
And that’s going to take collaboration, creativity and, most of all, a healthy dose of pragmatism and a razor-sharp focus on authentic engagement.”
Debbie Whitfield
Director, Fabrix
