UK: Developer HUB and impact investor Bridges Fund Management have secured planning permission from the City of London for a coliving scheme at 45 Beech Street, in London’s Barbican Estate.
The scheme, called Cornerstone, is a conversion of an office building and has been designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM). It will be the first coliving development in the area.
Community and neighbourhood stakeholders were actively engaged in the consultation process through a series of targeted workshops and events. This included the local business community and Barbican residents.
The development will provide enhanced public realm with additional greenery, and ground floor amenities including a café and coworking space that will be open to the local community.
In alignment with HUB and Bridges’ mutual commitment to reducing carbon emissions, Cornerstone utilises as much of the existing building as possible. This approach is projected to achieve a 34 per cent reduction in total embodied carbon compared to a new build of equivalent scale. The scheme will also significantly improve the energy performance of the building, and targets BREEAM Excellent and EPC A.
Tom Stoneham, senior development manager at HUB, said: “This success is a major milestone for HUB, as Cornerstone is our first office-to-living building conversion to be granted planning permission. This approach will deliver embodied carbon savings by retaining the building’s structure, but it will also breathe new life into a building that is currently underutilised and has the potential to much better serve the City and workers that want to live there. Cornerstone embodies our commitment to delivering places that centre on sustainability, innovation and community-focussed living. We’re now looking forward to progressing this exciting scheme to deliver a new type of home to this area, as well as improved public realm for the benefit of the wider community.”
Celia Harrison, director at Bridges Fund Management, added: “In London, as in many other big cities, we urgently need to build more housing to meet the needs of our growing population. But if we are to have any hope of meeting our Net Zero goals, we need to be doing this in a more sustainable way. By transforming this under-used office building into attractive, sustainable co-living space, we can help to address both these challenges – broadening access to high-quality housing while reducing the embodied carbon associated with construction. We’re hugely grateful to the City of London for their leadership in recognising this opportunity, and we’re excited to bring Cornerstone to life in the coming months in this fantastic location right next to the iconic Barbican Estate.”
Chair of the City of London Corporation’s Planning and Transportation Committee, Shravan Joshi, said: “Coliving developments are becoming an important part of the mix for city living, particularly in providing more accommodation for young people, as we continue to transform the Square Mile into a thriving seven day and evening destination, for everyone. Also, with the built environment sector accounting for around 40 per cent of total carbon emissions, retrofitting is also crucial for meeting our net zero goals. By working with stakeholders to deliver pragmatic policies that will help transition to net zero effectively, we aim to be the most attractive and sustainable global city for generations to come.”
