British Land unveils plans to transform London’s Euston Tower into a life sciences and innovation hub

• Euston Tower represents a major retrofit and redevelopment opportunity at the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter
• Proposals aim to transform the building into a world-class net zero home for world-leading life science and innovation occupiers

Leading property company British Land has unveiled plans to redevelop Euston Tower through an innovative combination of retention, re-use and an ultra-low carbon new structure. The plans would transform the building into a pioneering, modern, net zero workspace for cutting-edge businesses of all sizes, including new world-class, lab-enabled spaces at the heart of London’s Knowledge Quarter.

Currently under discussion with Camden Council and other local stakeholders, the vision for Euston Tower will lead the way in low carbon retrofit and construction techniques, using inclusive design which creates high quality workspaces and continues to support the local community and economy. The current proposals will bring forward lab-enabled spaces for start-up and scale-up innovation businesses, as well as spaces for the local community to support education and training opportunities.

Leading the design are award-winning Danish architecture practice 3XN who have recently worked with British Land on Broadgate’s iconic 2FA. They are supported by London-based architecture and landscape studio DSDHA who re-designed much of Broadgate’s public realm, including Exchange Square. The team have drawn up designs which would retain elements of the original tower, including the foundations, basement and core, while transforming the building and surrounding area into a welcoming, accessible and creative new space. Leveraging British Land’s expertise in creating inclusive external spaces across its campuses, proposals for a new and improved public realm include large areas of greening and a space for events, while also providing opportunities for people to dwell and relax.

In line with British Land’s longstanding commitment to net zero development, the design’s sustainability strategy is based on retaining, re-using and re-cycling existing material, specifying low carbon and recycled materials where new is required and only using certified carbon offsets as an action of last resort. British Land is also actively exploring options for local certified carbon offsets, whereby they would seek to offset embodied carbon associated with materials in the existing building that cannot be reused or recycled by funding equivalent local carbon avoidance measures.

This multi-layered approach to net zero development aims to create a blueprint for the sustainable redevelopment of challenging, inflexible old buildings that can be used in the future. British Land is working with research institutes to test progressive ways of re-using elements of the building’s structure and intends to use its findings to help accelerate the real estate industry’s move towards net zero.

As the owner and operator of Regent’s Place for nearly 40 years, British Land has a long history of partnering with the London Borough of Camden and its communities, delivering new affordable homes and spaces for the local community, including a theatre and arts centre and affordable workspaces. Working collaboratively with its local partners, British Land has sought to make a long-lasting, positive social impact, pioneering new approaches to creating social value, including its innovative Regent’s Place Community Fund which has raised over £200,000 for community projects since its launch in 2016.

The building will not increase in height beyond its existing 100 metres, but the site will be optimised to deliver better quality floor plates and public realm that respond to the growing needs of the Knowledge Quarter.

David Lockyer, Head of Development, British Land, said: “This is a unique opportunity to transform a London landmark desperately in need of revival, ensuring it is fit for the future by adopting cutting edge sustainability practices and attracting leading life sciences and innovation occupiers where it currently lies vacant.

“We’re committed to a comprehensive and transparent approach to sustainability, working closely with the London Borough of Camden and other key stakeholders to reimagine this office tower. The desire to retain, re-use and recycle as much of the building fabric as possible while creating high quality, flexible and sustainable workspaces is a blueprint for other projects facing similar challenges.”

Audun Opdal, Senior Partner and Head of Design, 3XN, added: “We are proud to work on this highly progressive project and feel our proposals will transform the disused Euston Tower into a beautifully designed, sustainable new building, delivering workspaces for the future and accessible and inclusive spaces for neighbouring communities.

“Working with our innovation unit GXN, we will reuse and recycle materials throughout the development, and ultimately reach net zero at completion and in operation. As such, we have developed a guiding hierarchy for how we find the best place for any elements that are removed from the existing structure. Where we cannot retain materials in situ we are developing innovative methodologies for recycling and upcycling, working closely with research institutes to further this.  Architecturally this will be a new breed of tall building, one that minimises operational energy use through passive design, reducing solar gain with less glazing and increased façade depth.”

Deborah Saunt, Director, DSDHA, said: “The Euston Tower and Regents Place Plaza offers huge potential to create a meaningful new place of pause and relaxation amidst the bustle of the city. On an urban scale it acts as a key gateway to Camden’s West End for those approaching from the north, and conversely beckons people up to Hampstead and Camden Town when travelling from the south.

As a fulcrum between different districts of the city, it offers a critical opportunity to enhance biodiversity and encourage wellbeing, continuing the great work that has already begun on the estate, and we look forward to developing a public realm vision in collaboration with local communities and stakeholders.”

The project team, led by British Land, is currently seeking feedback from local people, community groups and businesses to help inform detailed aspects of the design. The consultation launched on Saturday 8th July at Regent’s Place Plaza and the reception of 10 Brock Street. This is accompanied by the launch of the Creative Producer’s film and photography exhibition – exploring local people’s perspectives, desires, and aspirations as we look to the future of the area. There will be several workshops and drop-in events held over the following two weeks with details available on the website: https://www.eustontower.uk/

Subject to consultation with the community and discussions with members and officers at Camden Council, British Land hopes to submit a planning application for Euston Tower towards the end of this year.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

Isabelle Finn, London Communications Agency

Email: [email protected] / 07738 018 023

Charlotte Whitley, British Land

Email: [email protected] / 07887 802 535

About Regent’s Place and British Land

British Land has owned Regent’s Place for nearly 40 years and supports several local community projects and initiatives, as well as providing volunteers, work experience and support to a range of local projects. Sitting at a prominent site in British Land’s Regent’s Place campus and within London’s Knowledge Quarter, Euston Tower was designed by Sidney Kaye Eric Firmin & Partners.

Our portfolio of high-quality UK commercial property is focused on London Campuses and Retail & London Urban Logistics assets throughout the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at £13.0bn (British Land share: £8.9bn) as of 31 March 2023, making us one of Europe’s largest listed real estate investment companies.

We create Places People Prefer, delivering the best, most sustainable places for our customers and communities. Our strategy is to leverage our best-in-class platform and proven expertise in development, repositioning, and active management, investing behind two key themes: Campuses and Retail & London Urban Logistics.

Our three Campuses at Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place are dynamic neighbourhoods, attracting growth customers and sectors, and offering some of the best connected, highest quality and most sustainable space in London. We are delivering our fourth Campus at Canada Water, where we have planning consent to deliver 5m sq ft of residential, commercial, retail and community space over 53 acres. Our Campuses account for 63% of our portfolio.

Retail & London Urban Logistics accounts for 37% of the portfolio and is focused on retail parks which are aligned to the growth of convenience, online and last mile fulfilment. We are complementing this with urban logistics primarily in London, focused on development-led opportunities.

Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our approach is focused on three key pillars where British Land can create the most benefit: Greener Spaces, making our whole portfolio net zero carbon by 2030, Thriving Places, partnering to grow social value and wellbeing in the communities where we operate and Responsible Choices, advocating responsible business practices across British Land and throughout our supply chain, and maintaining robust governance structures. Further details can be found on the British Land website: http://www.britishland.com/

About 3XN / GXN

3XN is a Copenhagen based architecture practice that brings three decades of experience in pushing boundaries of projects to create buildings that people will love for decades to come.

In 2007 we established the innovation unit GXN to collect and apply the latest knowledge on materials and new technologies to create sustainable and innovative architecture.

About DSDHA

DSDHA is an architecture, landscape and research studio, whose internationally acclaimed work is engaged in a constant search for new forms of beauty and driven by the ethos that “the City is our Client”, placing people at the fore of what we do.

By deploying its spatial intelligence across a broad range of scales – from infrastructure to intimacy – we produce urban strategies and bespoke designs that tap into each project’s latent potential to foster positive urban change.