Holbein Gardens: delivering a low-carbon structure with reclaimed steel

Holbein Gardens is an office redevelopment project in London being delivered within the UKGBC’s net-zero carbon buildings framework. The project involves the refurbishment of a 1980s concrete-framed building and construction of a one-storey vertical extension. This article describes the design team's approach to minimising the embodied carbon of the project, with a particular focus on the use of reclaimed steel. The article discusses several considerations relating to the reuse of steelwork, including sourcing, design challenges, testing and insurance, and aesthetics. The use of 25t of reclaimed steel on the project is estimated to have saved 35t of carbon compared with new steelwork. An average figure of 0.3kgCO2e/kg (stages A1–A5) has been calculated for the reused steelwork, helping to deliver an overall figure of just 65kgCO2e/m2 for the structural embodied carbon of the building (excluding the facade).