Offset: Any remaining carbon should be offset via recognised carbon offset schemes.

Serial owners and the power of clients to drive change in construction.The key lies with the big owners.

Marks calls them ‘serial owners,’ because they are large-scale, repeat asset builders.It’s when those big owners start making demands that the shifts occur.She refers to big-budget school programmes as an example and talks about their need for operational consistency, usually over large geos.

However, she cautions that after owners demand the change, it’s important they’re involved in allowing people to change the process to decrease risk and make things possible.. Jaimie Johnston points out that people often want innovation, but they want it to be tried and tested, without extra risk.They want a sophisticated way of delivering, but through an existing framework, an existing set of contracts, an existing set of contractual terms.. “No one doubts that you can deliver an asset using some of these technologies, he says, “but it's the framework of procurement methodology and contracts, and IP, and warranties and insurances - all those other things that need to change.”.

“What I'm finding now,” says Amy Marks, “is that they love industrialised construction, they want to understand certainty, so they're starting to dictate and decouple the process of construction and productising it.”.

We need to connect makers and designers, she says.The aim was to create a great building that would respond to its context/environment and that is certainly what Bryden Wood have achieved.

The initial challenges posed by the building’s proximity to the Westway and Grand Union canal, as well as the limited site space for construction, have birthed a space of both aesthetic and functional dynamic, equally capable of fulfilling its practical goal of providing creative office spaces to West London creative businesses..According to O’Neill, the biggest challenge of the project was the building of phase 2 over the fully occupied, existing (phase 1) building.

He says that whilst knowing the building would be in use by creative industries did give a sense of freedom regarding the design, ‘it was clear that the building needed to deliver value to ensure we created affordable workspaces.’ These, he notes, are still in shortage in West London.‘It’s stylish yet affordable,’ he says of GWS, ‘and a perfect contrast to the generic, co-working businesses which have established themselves over the past five or so years.’ The ground floor studios are ideal for startups, whilst an upper-story, canal-side unit makes an excellent workspace for an office of 20 plus.. O’Neill loves the diverse collection of creatives and businesses the building has attracted and says he’s ‘glad it has provided GWS and its tenants with a safe, welcoming, happy environment which is conducive to hard, serious and creative business.’ From an architectural perspective, his favourite thing about the building is the gentle curve alongside the canal side elevation.