Ropemaker Place is a 21-storey commercial building in the City of London, the UK’s international business district, built to fulfill the sustainability ambitions of developer British Land as well as Arup. That meant being as sustainable as it is flexible for modern office use. What makes Ropemaker particularly striking is its 1850m² of roof garden terraces, one of many aspects of the building that contribute to it being both BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and the first building in the City of London to achieve Platinum LEED rating.

Developer British Land allocated the design and construction to only two organisations, Arup as architect, structural, and building services designer with specialist acoustics, communications and façade engineering; and Mace as project manager, construction manager, and cost consultant. Arup used an integrated approach design approach that applied our broad range of expertise to the task of creating 55,000m² of office space and 1270m² of retail facilities within a sustainable city-centre project.  

Ropemaker Place is a building integrated into its surroundings rather than being an ‘object’ building. Conceived as a simplified Chinese puzzle, the building is composed of six large-scale interlocking cubic forms, rising up as a series of garden terraces and contributing to the townscape rather than calling attention away from it. The end result is a working environment of the highest quality and desirability, earning it the British Construction Industry’s Major Projects Award for 2009.     

Sustainable buildings 

The façade design exemplifies the integration of architectural treatment with environmental performance: a bespoke system of unitised 1.5m wide modular cladding, designed as a series of storey-height insulated cassettes with projecting and tilting vision panels where required, the combination of which reduces the average annual energy consumption for cooling by up to 27% compared to a flat façade.  

Five ascending landscaped garden terraces cover the majority of the available roof, providing a balance between public amenity for the building’s occupants and as a bio-diverse habitat. The designation of the terraces as usable green roofs consigned all services plant to the basement levels and a roof plant enclosure above the ultimate floor. Still rare in City architecture, these spaces support Arup’s interest in the greening of buildings and their associated social, environmental and biological advantages. Planting was selected to reflect the changing seasons and included native and non-native species. 

Roof garden at Ropemaker place
Five ascending landscaped garden terraces cover the majority of the available roof
Design sketches of window geometry for Ropemakers building London
The effect of the window geometry varies with orientation and conditions.
Image from the floor of the Ropemaker building facade
The façade design exemplifies the integration of architectural treatment with environmental perfor.mance

Structural engineering 

The site had a previous planning permission and an extensive combination of existing 1950s and overlayed 1980s concrete foundations left in place. The design team needed to overcome the difficulties and start digging the major new basement excavation before the new design was fully known or the new Planning Consent could be gained.  

A basement design and overall construction strategy was devised whereby a supplementary permission for the basement could be agreed within the existing consent and enable works to start on site. This allowed time for the new Planning Approval Process, and the design and award of sequential works packages to maintain the required construction timescale. In total, 15% of the footprint of the new building is founded on existing foundations. 

A tour de force of high quality design, innovative construction and super energy credentials puts Ropemaker Place at the forefront of urban office building for the future 

British Construction Industry Awards

Ropemaker Place, Winner of the Major Project Award

Ropemaker place facade