Designed by Make Architects, 30 Duke Street St James’s provides a premier workplace guided by wellness and sustainable design outcomes.
Bounded by Piccadilly, Duke Street St James’s and Jermyn Street in London’s St James’s neighbourhood, the new eight-storey building will exemplify materials reuse, providing new high-quality workspace and retail units along the ground floor.
Elliott Wood is providing structural engineering and sustainability services to deliver GPE’s most ambitious material reuse project to date. Approximately 78% of the steel structure (440 tonnes) was formed from reclaimed steel. Of this, 67% originated from the donor buildings previously occupying the site, while the remaining was sourced from EMR and Cleveland Steel Stock.
This approach makes 30 Duke Street St James’s the largest commercial steel reuse project in London and, to Elliott Wood’s knowledge, the UK. The scheme also salvaged Portland stone, granite, marble, timber handrails and glass blocks for reuse, reinforcing the project’s commitment to circular principles. Together with targeted BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and WELL Platinum certifications, and alignment with NABERS Design for Performance, the result is a technically-advanced, low-carbon workplace rooted in its historic setting.
The project not only demonstrates the feasibility of steel reuse at scale but also delivers substantial embodied carbon savings (744tC02e in total) – setting a benchmark for the future of low-carbon structural design in dense urban contexts. The project brought together a team of expert contributors, including Hoare Lea as MEP consultant, JF Hunt as Enabling Works Contractor, MACE as Principal Contractor and Turner & Townsend alinea as Quantity Surveyor.
