11-21 Canal Reach is a contemporary workplace located in the ‘Western Yards’ of the King’s Cross masterplan. The office development has detailed planning permission and features 38,000 sqm of modern Grade A office space that rises from ten to twelve storeys high. With expansive double-height receptions and 4,000 sqm of landscaped roof gardens and terraces, the buildings offer their users uninterrupted views over Central London from its biodiverse outdoors space. The scheme is on target to achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating as a result of its holistic approach to sustainable design, with the additional ambition of reducing its embodied carbon emissions to the lowest for this type of building in the UK. The building utilises passive design principles wherever possible, although railway noise has dictated an energy-efficient air-supply system rather than fully natural ventilation. Central atrium spaces are used to distribute and reclaim air throughout the four massing blocks of the scheme which step around the curve of the site. Solar control on the 200-metre long south-east-facing facades accentuates the stepping theme. In addition to embodied carbon assessment, the building is designed using actual energy performance modelling with the aim of being the lowest energy building on the King’s Cross site.