Formerly a 1970s car maintenance shed, WeWork on the Sawston Trade Park situated to the south of Cambridge has been creatively adapted to become a modern, stylish multiple occupancy business space. Retaining the existing concrete structure saved tonnes of embodied carbon by using the framework already on-site.

The refurbished building now offers a flexible environment housing two storey Cat A offices, R&D spaces and storage facilities. The existing building was stripped back to its pre-cast concrete frame and re-clad with a new external envelope together with a new steel framed central core and mezzanine level. A central ‘street’ now runs between two wings of office and laboratory space.

Key features of the completed building are:

• New cladding and glazing to the elevations - improving the quality of the internal environment and the aesthetic and functional performance of the building envelope
• Contemporary high performance flexible accommodation referencing the industrial heritage of the building
• A range of internal and external amenity spaces provided by the double-height day-lit central ‘street’ and high quality external landscaping

rhp were the Executive Architect for the scheme, working with Morgan Sindall to deliver an initial design by NBBJ, from RIBA Stage 4 to completion.