PwC, One Embankment Place

Solution

The leading professional services consultancy PwC had occupied One Embankment Place since 1991. As the offices were in need of refreshment, tp bennett was invited to create a flexible, sustainable and collaborative workplace within the landmark Terry Farrell-designed building above Charing Cross Station.

Rather than become a rigid corporate office, the practice instead followed a hospitality model: as if it was a business hotel. The dark entrance was opened up, and some of the excess of the original building – a masterpiece of British post-modernism – pared back.

While retaining some formality, tp bennett added vibrancy by using PwC’s brand colours as way-finding tools. On each floor it created a ‘heart space’ or central hub, providing a connection between two atria situated in the south and north of the building. New features such as terraces with gardens were added, and flexible working enabled, with over 4,500 people sharing 3,150 workstations.

Highly praised for the best BREEAM sustainability rating achieved to date (an ‘Outstanding’ rating of 96.31%) the interior makes full use of natural light – and was subsequently praised by Sir Terry Farrell himself.