City Hall
BREEAM OUTSTANDING refurbishment of ‘The Crystal’ exhibition hall, creating an inviting new home for the MAYOR OF LONDON AND THE Greater London Authority (GLA)
00 were appointed to lead the design of London’s New City Hall, supporting the Greater London Authority (GLA) to relocate from their former home in London Bridge to the Royal Docks. The project involved repurposing ‘The Crystal’ into the new home for the Mayor and the London Assembly. Located within East London’s Royal Docks Enterprise Zone, the new City Hall acts as a signifier for growth and transformation, exemplifying a successful relocation and repurposing project that minimises waste and prioritises reuse.
The decision to repurpose ‘The Crystal’ building, which was already owned by the GLA, was both an economic and environmental one, aligned with the GLA’s broader mission of reducing waste and carbon emissions, showcasing how adaptive reuse of existing buildings can lead to significant environmental benefits, evidenced by the project being the first building to be recertified BREEAM Outstanding following a change of use. The project also created an opportunity for the GLA to adapt their new civic home to reflect London’s diversity and embody the GLA’s values promoting inclusivity, accessibility, public engagement and occupant wellbeing, whilst embedding flexibility for future adaptation.
First completed in 2012 as an exhibition and innovation centre for Siemens, "The Crystal" was originally designed by Wilkinson Eyre and Arup Engineers. The building was a global pioneer in sustainability, achieving both BREEAM Outstanding and LEED Platinum certifications. However, after the building stood vacant for two years, some elements had fallen into disrepair, requiring a focused refurbishment effort to restore its full operational potential.
The project team, led by Architecture00 with support from Fletcher Priest Architects and Arup Engineers, transformed this highly bespoke building into a welcoming, new home for all Londoners to participate in London’s democracy.
City Hall was the winner of the AJ Retrofit and Re-use 2024 award for Fit-out for £2m+.
Design Team Lead + Client Monitoring Architect: Architecture 00
Consultant + Executive Architect: Fletcher Priest Architects
MEP and Structural Engineer: Arup
Project Manager: Gerald Eve
Cost Consultant: Core Five
AV Consultant: Bow Tie
Contractor: ISG
Location: Royal Docks, London
Client: Greater London Authority (GLA)
Programme: 2020 - 2022
Area: 6500sqm
BREEAM Outstanding
Press
"This confident transformation brings warmth and coherence to something that could have easily been vacuous and cold. It is very clever indeed," - Architects' Journal Retrofit and Reuse Award judge.
Photos by Jim Stephenson
London’s Living Room
The exhibition hall was reconfigured into London’s Living Room, Committee Rooms, and GLA workspace, while the existing cinema was transformed to become the democratic Chamber. Existing office floors were adapted to provide the Mayor’s offices, Assembly Party offices, Secretariat, and additional meeting spaces. A key design ambition for the new City Hall was to create an inviting space which would welcome in the public and encourage engagement with the GLA and Mayor of London’s civic activity, becoming an everyday amenity and meeting place. This was achieved by conceiving the ground floor as an extension of London’s public realm, locating the public-facing London Living Room along the highly glazed façade to the Royal Docks, incorporating an internal landscape of large trees and surrounding joinery to sit, work and dwell, all made in BSC-certified British timber.
London’s Committee Rooms directly surround the Living Room, maximising public visibility through a highly glazed perimeter with human-scale porches which mediate the threshold between the public and democratic functions and events. These interstitial spaces incorporate domestic design to encourage curiosity and participation, using familiar, welcoming materials and warm under-lighting, with dark finishes and reduced ceiling heights, before entering the tall, bright volumes of the Committee Rooms and Democratic Chamber. Surrounding the Chamber, on upper levels, new flexible workspaces were created for the Assembly Members, Secretariat, Mayor and his team.
Minimal Structural Intervention with Maximum Reuse
The BREEAM Outstanding certification highlights the project's success in minimising its environmental impact whilst also improving the building’s performance. The refurbishment scored exceptionally with credits for health and wellbeing, visual, thermal and acoustic performance improvements, promotion of active travel, energy and water efficiency, as well as judicious and careful material use.
One of the key strategies for reducing the environmental impact of the refurbishment was to re-use as much of the existing building as possible; this was achieved despite the challenges posed by the geometrically complex, bespoke building. The project retained all the existing primary structure and most of the envelope, repairing and upgrading where required. The design interventions also sought to embed a high level of flexibility, anticipating that the needs, scales and working styles at City Hall can change significantly in response to London’s political landscape.
Inclusivity and Accessibility
Sustainability in architecture is not just about energy efficiency and environmental impact, it also encompasses social and cultural sustainability. The new City Hall was designed to be an inclusive and welcoming space for all Londoners, regardless of their physical abilities or backgrounds. This aligns with the GLA’s vision of creating a civic building that reflects the diversity of the city it serves. Design interventions were made to unlock transformative cultural improvements, including reconfigurations to incorporate unisex WC and shower facilities throughout, as well as providing a new inclusive Changing Places facility to enable people with complex disabilities and their carers to enjoy City Hall with safety and dignity. The project also delivered a new multi-faith room, parent room, and intuitive wayfinding, hearing loops and signage to support those with physical, visual, or cognitive impairment. These inclusivity measures are an essential part of the building’s long-term sustainability, promoting social cohesion and civic pride, and ensuring that City Hall remains a welcoming and functional space for all Londoners.