25 Baker St

Minutes from Mayfair, 19 – 35 Baker Street boasts a transformation from dated 1950s slab office blocks to a thriving and modern mixed-use facility. The ten-storey redevelopment has restored a vibrant area of London through modern innovations to create a bustling hub of offices, retail, residential, and public space.

Hopkins Architects have designed the scheme to deliver both a high-performing sustainable workplace and a rich user experience. Derwent London aimed to create an exceptional scheme that delivers strong return whilst staying eco-conscious and treading lightly on the planet. Now the project has completed, Derwent have achieved BREEAM Outstanding and LEED Gold among other sustainable certifications.

Hopkins Architects rejected the sterile and clinical expression found in most standard office washrooms. They favoured a darker, richer, and warmer palette with the aim of creating a boutique hotel feel as the extension of a premium workplace.

To bring their vision to life they proposed Wenge veneer, a rich material selected for its distinct and premium look. Wenge veneer is marked on the IUCN Red List as endangered due to population decline and over-exploitation. This means it faces significant sustainability concerns and didn’t align to both Derwent and Hopkin’s sustainability values.

Maxwood approached the project with an industry first – bamboo. A bold alternative for the traditional material, bamboo removed the sustainability roadblock with its versatile application and carved an industry-first into Baker Street.
This new bamboo material offered a wealth of benefits:
• Reaching maturity in 5 – 7 years bamboo not only grows quicker than standard timber but regrows from its own root system, so no need to re-plant like its wood counterpart.
• At 28,000 PSI, bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel. Ideal for washrooms due to its strength and durability.
• Bamboo can absorb up to twelve tonnes of carbon dioxide per HA per year and compared to an equivalent tree mass, produces 35% more oxygen.
• The face layer of solid bamboo is 470% thicker than the standard veneer thickness, another versatile benefit to bamboo.