McLaren beats Multiplex to £94m office job in Angel

McLaren Construction has been picked to deliver a £94m overhaul of Angel Square in Islington.

Construction News understands that the competition for the contract was a two-horse race between McLaren and Multiplex, with Skanska having also been in the running at an earlier stage. The developer for the scheme is Tishman Speyer.

McLaren will now oversee the shell and core contract for the refurbishment of 12,000 square metres of office space and the construction of three linked buildings to create a 27,000 square metre scheme. 

In addition to office space, the new design includes affordable workspace, a replacement public house and a public cafe.

According to McLaren, the comprehensive refurbishment retains about 70 per cent of the existing structure, infilling a central courtyard and adding two floors with roof terraces after demolition of the upper level. The cores will be moved to a central position, freeing space and opening up floor plans.

The building’s embodied carbon will be significantly reduced through the reuse of the existing ribbed reinforced-concrete frame, resulting in an embodied-carbon target of 475kg CO2-equivalent/square metre for the A1-5 lifecycle stages covering products and construction processes.

McLaren’s shell and core contract includes Cat A fit-out of the two new floors and installation of mechanical, electrical and plumbing services, largely relocated from the roof to the basement. Plant will be electric throughout and supplemented by renewable energy from rooftop photovoltaics.

A new glass-fibre reinforced-concrete facade replaces the 1980s brick facade and is inset with glazed terracotta, highlighting the building’s entrances and responding in tone to neighbouring buildings.

McLaren’s regional managing director for London, Darren Gill, said: “These heavy refurbishments of existing structures are increasingly vital as a sustainable way of meeting occupier demands for modern office space with high environmental performance.

“They can be delivered relatively quickly and Angel Square shows that the new building needn’t be limited by the previous layout. An intelligent design like this one can create a lot of extra space.”

Nacho O’Leary, the senior director overseeing Tishman Speyer’s design and construction activities across the UK and Ireland, commented: “McLaren has the experience of heavy refurbishment and of building above underground stations, which perfectly complements the rest of the project team. Together, we will deliver a sustainable refurbishment, which is a top priority for the firm.”

Work is due to begin in June and complete by the end of next year.