The Old Building

Webb Yates were appointed to provide the building services and structural design. The Old Building was responsible for 17% of LSE’s carbon emissions. The design aimed to reduce this through electrification of the heating and hot water systems, including air source heat pumps at roof level and water source heat pumps at basement level. While this presented significant challenges in relation to structural loading of the roof and the capacity of the electrical infrastructure, we produced a scheme that delivers significant carbon savings as part of future phases of work.

Equally important was improving environmental conditions within the building, particularly fresh air provision. As part of works undertaken in this phase, including rearrangement and refurbishment of the teaching and office space, we introduced heat recovery ventilation to provide much better levels of fresh air while driving down energy costs through on-demand system control. Replacement of existing lighting throughout the building with LED fittings made a further significant contribution to immediate energy reductions.

Structurally, the building is incredibly complex, and archive drawings were not always reliable, so any proposed works had to be verified through intrusive structural surveys. Structural interventions, including enabling the provision of a new lift, were carefully detailed to minimise temporary works and ensure the long-term structural integrity of the building. Works were staged around continued occupation of the building, with careful sequencing to limit disruption.