The Acre

Originally designed by Richard Seifert, the Acre has recently been refurbished and repurposed by Northwood Investors, with Gensler.

In London’s Covent Garden, Lendlease, with the assistance of development manager Platform, is transforming a late-period Seifert building – the former First Chicago House.

The scheme used 1,000 tonnes of steel – a quarter of the amount a new build of equivalent size would typically require. Similarly, just 5,000 square metres of additional concrete was needed (rather than 17,000 square metres for a new build). Retaining the existing structure and much of the facade mean a total saving of 4,250 tonnes of CO2. It also attained WELL Platinum.