Barr Gazetas

We initiate projects with long-term thinking by challenging clients to extend building life cycles. Because we specialise in refurbishment, we frequently revitalise structures that have already surpassed their initial design life.

To demonstrate this approach works, we deploy a bespoke embodied carbon modelling tool during feasibility option appraisals, allowing us to challenge briefs early and minimise carbon from the outset. We track these decisions through all project stages using a performance dashboard.

This data directly drives our advocacy for innovative, sustainable materials. For instance, our Grainhouse project transformed a 1861 heritage asset, utilising zinc cladding with a design life exceeding 100 years. Furthermore, our forward-thinking approach successfully unlocked long-term investment via the Hines European Value Fund 2.

By combining early data modelling with highly durable materials, we secure the long-term environmental and financial resilience of our built portfolio.

Our projects prioritise adaptability, resilience, and sustainability to future-proof buildings against climate change. A prime example is Holbein Gardens, completed in 2023, one of London’s most sustainable office buildings. It features blue roofs for stormwater management and flood prevention, addressing the potential for wetter climates. Expanding on this framework of resilience, our recent and forthcoming retrofits intentionally balance infrastructure with human health, urban greening, and biodiversity. At 42 Wigmore Street (WELL Gold) and 6 St Andrew Street (WELL Enabled), we have introduced extensive pocket greening, including biodiverse terraces, green roofs, and courtyard spaces that tie into London’s ‘Wild West End’ biodiversity corridor, alongside dedicated wellness facilities. We are carrying these exact integrated principles forward into the forthcoming transformation of Whittington House, ensuring our urban portfolio supports both ecological vitality and human wellness.

Our projects consistently go beyond mitigating harm by actively optimising environmental, social, and design outcomes. We specialise in retrofit, focusing on retaining structures to minimise embodied carbon while enhancing a building’s inherent qualities. Sustainability is embedded early via project-specific review forms and research-led design tools.

Most schemes achieve BREEAM, WELL, and NABERS certification. Aligning with the 2023 NLA Circular London guidelines, our exemplars prioritise public realm and active travel enhancements:

Holbein Gardens: Achieved a 200% Biodiversity Net Gain, featuring a vertical green wall and 70 secure cycle spaces.

Grainhouse: Partnered with the local council to re-pave and introduce a shared surface treatment to surrounding streets, integrating a roof garden with 300+ plant species and premium active travel facilities.

Fivefields: Pioneers the circular reuse of materials to maximise social value and user wellbeing.

This approach ensures we exceed standards like RIBA 2030, leaving urban environments tangibly better.

We actively support nature both locally and nationally through a blend of practice policy, project work, and hands-on advocacy. Nationally, we calculate our carbon footprint annually, offsetting 110% through UK-based forestry and rewilding programmes.

Locally, our commitment is structured. We actively encourage all staff members to take a volunteering day to support nature-based initiatives, such as volunteering with organisations like TCV at Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park, and we formalise this engagement by measuring the collective time taken.

We carry this advocacy directly into our urban surroundings. In Westminster, where much of our portfolio is concentrated, we design and deliver urban roof gardens featuring edible planting and native species. This directly enhances urban greening, supporting local biodiversity corridors and expanding our long-standing involvement with the Wild West End initiative.

We strive to introduce biodiverse planting and habitat creation across all our projects. Here are a few examples:

• At 6 St Andrew Street, we delivered 150 sqm of new greening, including green roofs, using the Urban Greening Factor as a planning tool.
• At 15 Bonhill Street, we created a 200 sqm vertical park, extensive green roofs, and Islington’s first office green wall.
• 42 Wigmore Street: Revived an existing central courtyard alongside newly introduced green roofs, living walls, and landscaped terraces to maximize urban pockets of nature
• Holbein Gardens includes blue roofs and a comprehensive SUDS strategy, achieving an 11% net biodiversity gain and supporting habitats for bats and bees.

Many of our projects are for clients who are partners of Wild West End. These projects contribute to a wider ecological network across London’s West End – supporting pollinators and wildlife while reconnecting people with nature.

We are an equal opportunities employer with a progressive EDI policy covering all stages of employment, from recruitment and pay equity to career progression. We actively monitor our practices through annual policy reviews and staff surveys to measure workplace belonging, while targeting the launch of an open EDI Forum and Working Group.

We welcome diversity in all forms. Our neurodiversity framework rejects a “one size fits all” approach, offering confidential individual needs assessments and tailored workplace adjustments to ensure neurodivergent team members thrive. Furthermore, all hiring managers undergo regular equality and unconscious bias training.

Beyond our studio, we champion industry-wide representation as signatories of the NLA Diverse Leaders Pledge. We also collaborate with external professional networks, including hosting and attending events with Architecture LGBT+ and Building Equality, to celebrate diversity and foster a truly inclusive wider professional community.

2. Does your work create connected and resilient communities which positively contribute to neighbourhoods and allow equality of access?

Our schemes often support regeneration through land-use diversification and improved public connectivity. We regularly deliver public realm improvements—such as at Grainhouse, Greenwich Market, Holbein Gardens, and Quadrant Arcade—enhancing community spaces and encouraging social interaction. By incorporating active ground-floor uses and retail frontages, we help generate local economic opportunities and support vibrant, mixed-use neighbourhoods.

We promote active travel through the integration of end-of-trip (EOT) facilities and enhanced pedestrian and cycle access across the vast majority of our projects.

We also prioritise inclusive design and always seek to maximise accessibility, ensuring spaces are welcoming and usable for all. Our Fivefields project is a standout example of this.