8 Storey's Gate, London, UK – retrofitting intelligent design and systems in a Grade II listed building

8 Storey’s Gate is a Grade II listed building located just behind Parliament Square in the heart of the City of Westminster. The original building is attributed to Sir George Gilbert Scott, and was constructed around 1870 as a ground-floor shop with office chambers above and a larger warehouse to the rear. It was adapted by successive tenants, but without attention to its thermal performance or to its accessibility, which was impaired by a raised ground floor.

The building was purchased by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 2008 from the trustees of a pension fund, with the intention of transforming it into a new administrative centre to support its main headquarters at One Great George Street (just across the road from 8 Storey’s Gate) and to integrate its commercial team, which was then based in Canary Wharf. This adjacency provided an opportunity for the ICE to gather its staff together and for the team to explore ideas promoted by this relationship between the two buildings.