Making An Impact

Royal London Asset Management commissioned MTArt Artist Stefania Tejada a bespoke hoarding artwork for the Mayfair Quarter, creating a piece to adorn the building site at 111–117 New Bond Street, reflecting their new branding.

Measuring 16 metres in height and 60 metres in length, the large-scale canvas, titled ‘Expressions of the Universe: A Dialogue on Heritage and Spirituality’, pays tribute to the diverse cultural forces that have shaped London’s identity through faith, artistry, and shared global heritage.

The artwork is treated with a Clean Air photocatalytic coating, which helps reduce air pollution by breaking down harmful NOx particles, contributing to a cleaner and healthier urban environment.

Commit

MTArt Agency has signed the pledge to display that beyond showcasing and raising awareness of sustainability, public art and artistic practice is capable of being sustainable in and of itself.

Plan

MTArt Agency works with artists to ensure the topic of depicting and enacting change and sustainability, in order to leverage resources and populations, remains central to our practice. In this case study, Clean Air was brought in during initial planning stages to ensure that the entire production process and final output was sustainable.

Partner

Here at MTArt Agency, we worked with our external partners at Royal London Asset Management (RLAM) to ensure not only a visually strong creative outcome and storytelling that are consistent with their new branding, but also to reflect this visual commitment to sustainability in the nature of the material. 

In the creation of this artwork, we worked with Clean Air to coat the work in a photocatalytic coating, reducing air pollution by breaking down harmful NOx particles, which is especially pertinent in the busy New Bond Street area. Consequently, this project educates our partners at RLAM, and broader audiences, how to make commissioning as sustainable as possible, whilst also having a strong visual impact.

Act

As a registered B Corp, we at MTArt implemented our plan of showcasing environmentally beneficial approaches to art-making by centralising B Lab standards through our development process, in particular the Climate Action standards. 

By working with Clean Air, as a UK based Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) company, we were also able to enact responsible approaches to carbon footprint regulation, while supporting domestic organisations.

Share

MTArt Agency shares news of completed projects across social media channels to raise awareness of our practice and showcasesustainability. 

After the completion of the project, MTArt Agency has worked with UCL to survey localised respondents who live and work in the surrounding area for the public art piece, the results of which will be published with UCL.

RMF was appointed to deliver approximately 18,000m² of raised access flooring for Canada Water A2, a flagship commercial building within British Land’s landmark Canada Water regeneration project. Working across six floors, the project required a high-performance flooring solution that could support a plenum air distribution system while meeting demanding sustainability, quality and programme requirements.

By combining its sustainable RMF Eco Range flooring system with rigorous testing, BIM coordination and close collaboration across the project team, RMF successfully delivered a technically complex installation that met all specified performance standards and contributed to the wider environmental ambitions of the development.

Commit

RMF committed to circularity in practice at it’s inception as we are a business that truly lives and breathes circularity.

Plan

Canada Water A2 forms part of one of the UK’s largest urban regeneration projects, creating modern workspace within a vibrant mixed-use destination in South East London.

From the outset, the flooring package presented several challenges. The raised access floor would form an integral part of the building’s plenum air distribution strategy, making airtightness and installation quality critical to overall building performance.

Key project requirements included:

• Installation of approximately 18,000m² of raised access flooring.
• Delivery across six floors, from Ground Floor to Level 5.
• Integration with complex building services and ductwork.
• Compliance with stringent air leakage performance criteria.
• Alignment with the project’s sustainability objectives.
• Maintaining programme certainty and quality standards throughout construction.

A detailed planning and coordination process was undertaken to ensure the flooring system could be installed efficiently while supporting the building’s operational and environmental goals.

Partner

Successful delivery relied on close collaboration between RMF, the main contractor and the wider project team.

RMF supported the project through:

• BIM modelling and design coordination.
• Early engagement with mechanical and electrical contractors.
• Detailed planning around service penetrations and ductwork interfaces.
• Coordination of floor grille locations and specialist flooring requirements.
• Ongoing quality assurance and testing programmes.

Working collaboratively throughout the project helped minimise installation risks, maintain programme milestones and ensure all interfaces were fully coordinated before installation commenced.

Act

RMF supplied and installed its sustainable Eco Range raised access flooring system throughout the building.

The scope of works included:

• Supply and installation of approximately 18,000m² of RMF Eco Range flooring.
• Bridging systems to accommodate building services and ductwork.
• Installation of plenum barriers.
• Floor grille cut-outs and service integration.
• GIFA flooring installations within lobby areas.
• Plenum air leakage testing.
• T42 pedestal adhesion testing.

Particular attention was given to installation quality due to the floor’s role within the building’s ventilation strategy. Comprehensive testing was undertaken to verify performance and ensure compliance with all project specifications.

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The Canada Water A2 project demonstrates how sustainable flooring solutions can be successfully integrated into large-scale commercial developments without compromising performance.

Project outcomes included:

18,000m² Successfully Delivered

A major raised access flooring installation completed across six floors within a high-profile commercial development.

Verified Performance

Independent testing confirmed that the flooring installation met the project’s air leakage requirements, supporting the effectiveness of the plenum air distribution system.

Sustainability in Action

The use of RMF’s Eco Range flooring supported the project’s environmental objectives while demonstrating the practical application of circular economy principles within commercial construction.

Recognised Excellence

RMF’s commitment to quality, safety and site collaboration was recognised through a Supervisor of the Month award during the construction programme.

The successful completion of Canada Water A2 reinforces RMF’s capability to deliver complex, technically demanding flooring projects while supporting clients’ performance, sustainability and programme objectives.

Permasteelisa Group has pledged to advance circularity in the façade industry to reduce construction carbon emissions and redefine how the sector approaches end-of-service life. Currently, thousands of façades face replacement due to inaccurate service life estimates or single-component failures, even though core materials like aluminium can last over 60 years.

Recently Permasteelisa Group partnered with TU Delft to research seven “R-strategies” (including reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing) for existing façades. Case studies, including 1 Triton Square in London and projects in Germany and the Netherlands, prove that reusing façades dramatically reduces embodied carbon while meeting modern performance standards.

Despite 70% of the market showing interest in façade reuse, clients face complex decisions around issues including service life, warranty, cost, site logistics and health and safety. Permasteelisa Group addresses this by providing certified performance declarations and new warranties for both on-site refurbishments and factory-monitored production. 

We are applying circular principles to major projects, such as the major Citi Tower retrofit in London. Moving forward, Permasteelisa Group is dedicated to innovating throughout the entire product lifecycle, and sharing best practice around façade refurbishment, façade care, and circularity in façades through its own channels, site tours, and industry events.

Commit

Permasteelisa Group has signed the pledge to embrace circular practices of re-use, remanufacturing and recycling in façades. We view circularity in the façade industry as key to cutting carbon in construction and believe a rethink is needed in the industry approach to end-of-service life.

Plan

Early engagement, even before the project award, enables us to support architects and clients with feasibility studies, cost planning and technical advice. This can include early sustainability studies to shape the energy efficiency of the final concept.

When evaluating a potentially redundant façade, we ask the questions:

Can it be upgraded in situ?
Is partial or full replacement necessary?
Could the existing façade be reused or remanufactured for another building?
Is it possible to meet energy performance targets without starting from scratch?

Within our FaçadeCare department, we have gained the knowledge and skills to assess the quality of façades on site, and to to assess and understand the true service life of materials in the design process. 

This allows us to evaluate the potential R-strategies and find the most sustainable and cost-effective solutions, considering a range of factors such as carbon savings, aesthetics, service life, warranty, cost, site logistics, transport, health and safety, and timelines.

Partner

To help navigate the technical challenge when it comes to existing façades, we recently commissioned specialist research in partnership with the Dutch Technical University, TU Delft. The aim was to explore how the façade industry could embed circular principles and minimise carbon emissions in refurbishment projects.

Our research focused on a typical 25-year-old aluminium and double-glass unitised façade and identified seven ‘R-strategies’ designed to help move from a linear model to a more circular one. 
We see many good initiatives in our supply chain when it comes to recycling aluminium and glass, for example. As a façade contractor, we concentrated on the strategies that will enable us to create the most impact, specifically the reuse, refurbishment and remanufacture of entire façade panels, rather than individual components. The study drew on successful examples from across the façade sector and other industries.

Our research demonstrated that, in many cases, refurbishing or remanufacturing a façade results in significantly lower carbon emissions than producing a new one from scratch (avoided embodied carbon) and in many cases, it is possible to upgrade the performance of a façade to current standards through remanufacturing.

The findings are clear; main components such as aluminium frames, steel sheets, laminated glass and insulation can last 60 years or more, and removing façades after 25 years is a missed opportunity to embrace circular principles.

Act

Our research suggests that over 70% of the market would consider façade reuse. However, there is also a clear need to demonstrate proven, improved performances, sufficient service life, and warranty.

As the leading international façade specialist, we are able to provide this reassurance – in the form of declared performances and a new warranty – through our quality monitored production process. Similarly, for on-site refurbishments we provide a warranty for the new materials and work executed. This helps to incorporate circularity with inbuilt certainty for the client.

We are also dedicated to carrying out exemplar industry projects that demonstrate a circular economy approach. At 1 Triton Square, we removed the original double-skinned curtain wall system and treated it at a temporary facility in Essex, where panels were inspected, cleaned, and updated with new gaskets for reinstallation. In total, we refurbished 3,500m² of the building’s original 1990s unitised façade panels.

And as we take part in the refurbishment of the Citi Tower (25 Canada Square) in Canary Wharf, one of the largest commercial office retrofit projects in Europe, we are pleased to be using this project to feed into our ongoing R&D work around circularity in tall buildings – investigating the remaining service life of components like PPC finishes, galvanized steel, and glass, and the potential to remanufacture existing façades to meet modern thermal standards.

At Koningskade 4 in The Hague, we carried out a high-impact, curtain wall refurbishment strategy, upgrading the envelope from a single float glass to a modern, double-skin laminated façade. As well as delivering a sustainable transformation without the need for rebuilding, we organised the strategic reuse of existing façade materials in other projects, embodying circular economy principles. 

A current focus of our innovation work is in improving the circularity of our product, from concept design through to deconstruction

Share

We will continue to share our knowledge and expertise around façade refurbishment, façade care, and circularity in façades with new and existing partners, and the wider industry, through site tours and factory visits, and through industry events, online forums, expert panels and thought leadership – sharing our learnings and best practice at every opportunity.

Image credit @ Andrew Howard

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.