| Title: | 14 Westfield Avenue, Stratford, London, UK |
| Markets: | Retail and Workplace |
| Services: | Landscape architecture |
| Region: | United Kingdom |
| Date: | 2020 |
| Team: | SimpsonHaugh |
| Photography: | Simon Kennedy |
The new home of HMRC, 14 Westfield Avenue is a unique two-tower commercial development in Stratford City, surrounded by a Gillespies-designed enhanced public realm and crowned with private, sheltered roof gardens that champions wellness and climatic design.
Situated in a prime location between the Westfield Stratford City Shopping Centre and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, 14 Westfield Avenue offices is a commercial development consisting of two towers (Building A and B), designed by architects SimpsonHaugh for leading client Westfield Europe Limited.
The development is topped by two 850m² rooftop gardens and a series of biodiverse roofs. Sheltered by a double-height glazed perimeter screen, the Building A roof terrace provides an ‘oasis’ on the roof where staff can sit, work and socialise while enjoying outstanding views to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the London skyline beyond.
On the completed Building A, a large, open area occupies the central position, offering flexibility for staging a range of wellness and corporate events, such as yoga, dinners and large corporate meetings. The space is boarded on both sides by a combination of soft and hard landscaping that forms a series of ‘garden rooms’ for smaller gatherings, with pockets of planting and seating.
The roof gardens have been designed with a focus on wellness and climate resilience. They include a mosaic of naturalistic planting consisting of robust, drought-tolerant planting that will mature over time and increase the biodiversity and ecology credentials of the site. The selected planting mix has several environmental benefits: they remain lush and green throughout the year, require less supplemental watering, absorb more surface water, and require less maintenance.
The future ground floor associated with Building B works includes a pocket courtyard garden, designed for its relationship with both buildings forming a verdant woodland garden while also accommodating a cycle commuter hub with a potential café and bike fixing station.
