The headquarters of the British Red Cross at 44 Moorfields in the heart of London City no longer aligned with its core principles. The existing infrastructure faced challenges such as inefficient climate control systems, a lack of a coherent workplace strategy, and an exterior that demanded immediate refurbishment. Our objective was to transform the building into a modern 21st-century environment that would best serve the needs of its dedicated volunteers and staff.

The project programme ‘Our people, our places’ is as much about repurposing the organisations’ vision and change management as entering a brave new world. Everyone knew this could not just be an MEP and facade upgrade. We were appointed in 2018 to repurpose the building and its design for the future. This would focus on working remotely, keeping healthy, escaping the auto-gyros’, and synthetic babies.

Occupied over seven floors and 75,000sqft, the project also had to accommodate space for the International Red Cross. At the core of this philosophy was maximising welfare, wellness and comfort, and utilising the potential of the single largest asset, its staff and volunteers. This project wouldn’t waste money that could benefit the charity. The aim was to re-use, re-purpose and re-imagine everything.

Together with the British Red Cross, we reviewed the basic office and operational principles for its workplace change strategy and design. The latter would audit other charities that co-work, to refine and implement recommendations to inform its own future accommodation strategy. At its core, the British Red Cross connects human kindness and empathy with human crisis. Therefore, its building needed to support this important work and embody this belief and promise.

Through a detailed occupancy survey, we also established that at the time the British Red Cross UK Office team had a maximum occupancy of 60%. Throughout the pandemic, the Practice would study this further to prepare for post-pandemic office design. This will see a smarter working environment, with specific co-working and shared space, fewer desks, more space and working options, with specific clean materials.

Philosophy
For a space to be built, adapted, or re-used, someone must advocate on behalf of the building.

44 Moorfields has a language which is spoken through its use of grid, its layout and its rich history. Whether through its surrounding streets, or people crossing the unnamed courtyard or amphitheatre that is Moorfields/City Point. 44 Moorfields is part of the establishment of this grid language. It speaks to the City of London plan, of buildings being adapted, ornamented, altered, restored and renovated. Its language is written in the materials of timber, stone, glass and metal.

In conjunction with the British Red Cross's workplace strategy, the Practice created a simple message for the diagram of how it works based on seven core project principles: Community; Flexibility; Leadership; Wellness; Culture; Humanity; and Sustainability.
We believe that the grid story starts at the desk, with a shared desking system within teams and studios. Through creating neighbourhoods, directives and departments, the design is interspersed with courtyards and alternative work settings that encapsulates a vision for the future.

44 Moorfields is a series of floorplates, from its basement to the 6th floor. Each floorplate describes the British Red Cross’s individual and department identity in the whole, connecting communal spaces, the reception, public spaces, and reinforcing a connection to the community. The stairs also provide the opportunity to break our silos.

The British Red Cross UKO building was designed by Alan Pipe & Partners for Mercantile & General and completed in 1963. Occupied by the British Red Cross since 1995, the building fabric and systems were in need of upgrading and replacing. With a long lease, the British Read Cross needed a modern environment to support its staff and volunteers. Its aim to have a diverse and exciting work areas to suit all of its departments and roles.

The primary objective of the British Red Cross project was to create a more inclusive and collaborative working environment, one which feels like a welcoming home for all British Red Cross staff and volunteers. Our team designed a shared hub, which provided space for community and committee gatherings, created spaces for project based working and quick response meetings. The design provides flexible and collaborative spaces available on every floor and in addition, spaces for quiet work and reflection.

Due to the building’s high running cost and environmental inefficiency the project initially started as an MEP refresh exercise with the inclusion of replacement windows in the facade, Expanding the scope, the British Red Cross took the opportunity to improve the workspace, making it more future facing, wellness focused and an inclusive environment. Taking 44 Moorfields into the future on this prominent long leasehold site. The expanded scope also included the lower floors, where we could review the ground floor arrival and museum elements and in addition, the lower ground floor meeting suite and first floor collaborative space.

Part of the brief was to create additional revenue generating flexible spaces which could be hired out to the local community. It is this flexible workspace which better serves the British Red Cross emergency response work, and serves as an area for community, socialising and integration.

Sustain and Preserve – A Product for Our Futures

‘The Power of Kindness’ is at the centre of everything The British Red Cross does. This resonates through all of its decision making and provided the benchmark by which it measured the success of furniture selection for its HQ refurbishment. Alongside Salt & Pegram, a contract flooring and lighting dealer, we looked to optimise the reuse of existing furniture and refurbish where appropriate, to approach corporate partners for donated furniture, maximise the social value of any new purchases and ensure that any surplus was found a home within the voluntary and community sector.

Every pound spent was a pound that could be used to support those in crisis. We agreed that the cost should not compromise longevity but support a drive towards a circular economy and provide support to the local supply chain.

The results

We engaged with the entire British Red Cross HQ organisation, establishing the user and ethical requirements. It benchmarked 155 different new products, including UK-based suppliers that contribute to the projects’ social value.

The Practice audited existing furniture and reused products that saved an estimated cost to the project of over £100K. It also donated used task chairs and meeting furniture that saved an estimated cost of £250K. Further, to support Net Zero commitments, it saved an estimated 99.25 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

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