Alphabeta
London / UK
Alphabeta
London / UK
Alphabeta is a strategic retrofit that repositioned a tired asset into a commercial landmark with a lasting impact on workspace design. A bold design featuring a celebration of the existing, the project’s innovative design and features has ensured Alphabeta continue to be much imitated.
Type
Size
Cost
Client
Photography
Commercial Retrofit
28,000 sqm
£36m
Resolution Property
Hufton and Crow
"Alphabeta offers much, it engages and clearly delights its occupants; its vibrant articulation of spaces shows a new way of thinking for large-scale office space, providing an alternative to the sterile mainstream offer of more ‘shades of grey’. The architects have imaginatively reconfigured this space giving the building a new lease of life."
- RIBA Awards
Studio RHE with Dickon Hayward as project lead.
The Alphabeta Building is a benchmark in how bold, intelligent retrofit can unlock lasting commercial value. Working with a tired, underutilised 300,000 sqft office block on the edge of the City, we delivered a transformative redevelopment that repositioned the asset for a new generation of occupiers—without the environmental and financial cost of demolition.
Our design stripped back redundant elements, introduced permeability at ground level, and reconnected the building to its urban context. Skilful insertions—such as the iconic cycle ramp through the atrium—signalled a clear break from the building’s corporate past and positioned it as a progressive, occupier-focused destination.
Retaining and reimagining the existing structure significantly reduced embodied carbon while allowing us to focus investment on impactful upgrades—creating a new active atrium and social arrival space, active ground floor uses, and extensive external terraces.
The result was a dramatic uplift in lettable value, rapid tenant uptake, and long-term commercial resilience. Alphabeta let faster and at higher rates than comparable new-builds—proving the financial case for retrofit done well.
It stands as a case study in how thoughtful design, targeted investment, and sustainable thinking can turn an outdated building into a market-leading address.