This project involved the redevelopment of the iconic Piccadilly Circus buildings that sit beneath the famous lights. In total 13 different buildings were unified, while retaining their own distinctiveness to form a single mix-use development. Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects with Landsec as the client and Wates as main contractor the project achieved BREEAM outstanding.

Part of the scheme included the dismantle and rebuilding of two historic, Grade II listed facades undertaken by Szerelmey; one Portland and one Bath stone. The facades needed to be removed to allow for the structural works occurring behind. A priority was to salvage and reuse as much as possible of the existing, historic stonework. Both facades underwent a detailed survey, before being carefully removed, piece by (very large) piece. Each stone was recorded, photographed and marked up with repairs on the survey drawings and report.

They were repaired, cleaned and had their thickness reduced to allow for cavity wall construction. The pieces were dry laid and checked again before being returned to site and reinstalled. In total we were able to salvage and reuse over 80% of the Bath stone and over 90% of the Portland stone which was a significant achievement.

Commit

Szerelmey are committed to reducing waste through the reuse of materials across projects, whether this is through dismantling and rebuilding facades, repurposing façades or interior materials to other sites or working with architects and clients to repurpose existing buildings into buildings for the future. We are honoured to be signatories of the pledge to embrace circular practices and believe working together with like-minded businesses is the way to make change.

Plan

Our approach is built around a strategy of communication and action. We engage with architects and clients early in a project. We will offer our technical advice to help the design balance achievable reuse or repurposing of material against the budget. Through consistent communication with the teams and sharing our ideas on reuse and repurposing we hope to work on an ever-increasing portfolio of projects with reuse at their core. 

We work with many clients and bring our knowledge of materials to the table. By working on lots of different projects we are able to suggest reuse of materials across projects, particularly with the same client, as well as put forward new ideas for repurposing material.

In the event of material being surplus as the end of a project, we will work with the client to find a new home for it.

Partner

Szerelmey works collaboratively with clients and our supply chain, engaging in and promoting reuse opportunities and sustainable business practices.

Act

We bring our reuse ideas to every project we have early involvement in – the earlier the better, as it enables the reuse of materials to be central to the design.

We work collaboratively and proactively with the entire client team.

We engage in regular internal meetings to continually improve our sustainability strategy and focus.

We talk about our projects, where they have exceeded expectations in reuse and also how we can do better.

Share

Szerelmey shares news of completed projects that demonstrate reuse across Linked In and on the news pages of our website.

We enter these projects in the prestigious Natural Stone Awards and support the client teams in entries for other more architect-led awards.

We actively promote the use of recycled materials to client teams and during business presentations.