The Royal College of Pathologists’ new headquarters is a purpose-built home for their staff and professional members in London. The eight-storey building features a double-height entrance atrium and incorporates floor to ceiling windows on all floors to maximise natural light.
Bennetts Associates’ architectural design incorporates a suite of state-of-the-art facilities for the College’s members and trainees, including a multi-purpose 210-person conference theatre and meeting rooms, office space and examination rooms.
Members and visitors also benefit from two roof terraces adjacent to the expansive meeting room on the sixth floor, whilst the seventh floor contains accommodation that can be used by the College for overnight stays in addition to self-contained office space. Other facilities include secure bike storage, showers and a cloakroom on the lower ground floor, helping boost active travel uptake.
Our structures team developed a series of phased structural designs which accommodated the site’s constraints, whilst working around the partial retention of the existing building, saving embodied carbon, cost and time. The concrete frame was constructed with a carbon footprint at 51% of a conventional concrete frame and has allowed for large spans, resulting in column free, flexible floorplates across the building. Our team worked closely with the architect to incorporate pioneering concrete techniques into the design, which add to the premium look of the building’s interior finishes. The design also provides a 25% enhancement in passive cooling over conventional flat slab alternatives.
This highly sustainable development achieved a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating and has won several awards, including a RIBA London Award 2021, New London Architecture’s Education award and the ‘Architecture +Learning’ award at Architizer A+Awards.
Client: ACME Inc.
Architect: Bennetts Associates
