14 Westfield Avenue

Lightweight construction accelerates programme & reduces carbon

This major office development in Stratford provides over 300,000 sq ft of commercial space. The project consists of a 14-storey office block over a ground floor amenity space above a 7m-deep basement. The northern half of the office block is built off a shopping centre.

The site was heavily constrained with the live Westfield Stratford shopping centre to the north, Westfield Avenue to the south, a John Lewis department store to the west, and the buried Woolwich Rail line to the east.

The final design employs around 3,700 tonnes of steel frame with cellular floor beams, supporting lightweight concrete floor decks resulting in a shallow combined structural and services zone. This lightweight construction minimised strengthening works needed to be carried out in the occupied retail spaces and the car park below as well as accelerating construction by reducing the steel piece count.

The Walsh approach also resulted in an embodied carbon footprint 20% below industry good practice.

The project was subsequently shortlisted for an Architects Journal Award in recognition of the BREEAM Excellent rating it achieved.