Needspace, a division of the Wates Group, has a portfolio of commercial assets across the south east. As an organisation they value the importance of reuse with a business model that invests in existing buildings. Moving forward they recognise the importance of improving performance and energy efficiency to reach targets of achieving an EPC B rating by 2030 and moving towards net-zero.

We have been advising Needspace? on their wider ESG mission while also looking in detail at the Clapham North Arts Centre which is the largest and most complex site in the portfolio, with the lowest EPC rating.

We carried out an in-depth review, working with our sister company Expedition Engineering, to produce a masterplan vision with potential approaches for the retrofit and/or redevelopment of the site. The study includes a phased approach to achieving EPC B by 2030 as part of wider ESG and net-zero goals.

Three options have been developed that begin with maximising retention of the existing buildings and taking a deep retrofit approach, and then incrementally increasing the amount of redevelopment. The site is highly constrained, flanked by active rail lines and residential but with careful insertion we achieved an additional 35% of development area alongside upgrading the existing assets of value.