The Bower

At Helical we are passionate about both sustainability and heritage and as such, if there is the ability within a new scheme to retain some or all of an existing building, we explore this in detail. At The Bower, we were fortunate enough to have two dilapidated but well constructed buildings, the structure and foundations of which we could use in their entirety in the construction of the new scheme. Working with architects AHMM, we developed a sustainable and efficient scheme which maximised the existing buildings, eliminating unnecessary waste and adding new elements to bring them back to life.

In total we saved 12,493 tonnes of carbon in adopting a refurbishment and remodelling strategy rather than demolishing and rebuilding. In addition, some of the building’s architectural features, such as striking brutalist concrete panels and bare faced internal concrete columns were able to be retained and included within the new scheme, giving the building a historical integrity and working well in The Bower's Old Street location. During construction 100% of timber was sustainably sourced and 2000 tonnes of construction waste was diverted from landfill.

A priority for us in designing the Bower was to open up the scheme, creating thoroughfares and permeability to enliven this previously landlocked site. We created three primary entrances to the site to draw people in from all possible adjacent areas and to encourage through traffic and dwell time for both building occupiers and the wider community.

We positioned the primary entrance to the buildings within the heart of the site, building a sizeable “piazza” area and creating a cut through at ground and first floor levels in the front building. Generous steps with integral seating lead down to the “Mews” which extends through to Baldwin Street at the rear, connecting the site with the occupiers in this location and with the Moorfields Eye Hospital located immediately to the north of The Bower.

Both the upper Piazza and the Mews are flanked by new retail/restaurant units of a variety of sizes to accommodate a wide range of occupiers. The tenant mix was carefully curated to appeal to both the occupiers of The Bower and the wider local community and The Bower marks one of Helical’s most successful and enduring destination creation projects.