The site on Mare Street was a collection of buildings consisting of an early 20th century, 4 storey warehouse building fronting the high street and a collection of low quality workshop buildings to the rear. Frost worked with Workspace to maximise the potential of the site, retaining the main building to the front and adding a rooftop extension together with a 4 storey high quality rear extension, providing 83,000 sqft of prime office space for SME’s in the Hackney area. Workspace‘s new flagship business centre now consists of a vibrant reception and café space where tenants can network and meet clients. With meeting rooms, private phone booths, expansive roof terraces and high windowed units offering views across London’s skyline, the flexible office space is amongst the best in East London. Achieving BREEAM ‘Excellent’, the building incorporates many sustainable features such as PV panels, green roofs & cycle storage for 150 bikes. The building is on target to achieve a 44% energy saving. Careful studies of the external façades were undertaken and the final designs are playful yet modest as a strict rhythm is adhered to which reflects the warehouse buildings of the past, whilst the projecting brick piers, brick corbels and decorative snapped header brick panels all help the building to celebrate the history and urban fabric of Hackney.