199 Bishopsgate, London EC2

Client: British Land

199 Bishopsgate is located within Broadgate, occupying a key corner site at the junction of Bishopsgate and Primrose Street. Originally designed by SOM, JRA refurbished the building after 20 years of use for British Land.

JRA’s interventions brought the office building up to as new standard by creating active frontages at street level, a new entrance and reception, and improvements across the office floors to provide high quality commercial workspace. The refurbishment was also focused upon sustainability, reaching BREEAM Excellent rating upon completion. Alongside measures including green roofs and nesting boxes, the team employed calibrated energy modelling, which used data from a similar building to predict occupant energy use, influencing decision making at each stage.

The success of JRA’s work at 199 Bishopsgate has been recognised by Architects’ Journal, who awarded the project AJ100 Value Excellence Winner. The judges described the project as: ‘A clear, logical and hard-headed approach to refurbishing an underperforming 1992 Skidmore Owings and Merrill Broadgate office building. The improvements, increased flexibility and established the building’s identity as a commercial palazzo, with an enlarged entrance relocated to its Bishopsgate frontage, displaying the high Modernist confidence of Skidmore Owings and Merrill’s best work.’

JRA’s workplace team has gone on to fit out 65,000 sq ft of the building for creative co-working company WeWork.