The Entopia Building

The University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s new international headquarters are transformed from a former 1930s telephone exchange into contemporary, vibrant and collaborative office spaces. The exemplar retrofit shows what can be achieved within a typical office refurbishment budget with a clear focus on cutting carbon, while creating beautiful and healthy places to work.

Location

Cambridge, UK

Area

2,939 m2

Status

Completed

Year

2022

Client

Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL)

Set within a conservation area the attractive Neo-Georgian brickwork façade of 1 Regent Street has significant architectural qualities, but the compromised, dark and uncomfortable interior spaces, most recently used as offices, were poorly performing and energy wasting.

Accommodating up to 375 visitors for special events, the office spaces include sitting and standing desks, tea-points, exhibition and presentation spaces alongside meeting rooms and flexible workspaces. The five-storey building is designed to allow occupants to interact with corporate partners, academic staff, fellows and support staff.

A special incubator hub – The Canopy – accommodated in dedicated areas around the building provides flexible spaces for eco entrepreneurs and small businesses. The double-height entrance space is a welcoming and practical space, with 3D printed feature lighting shining a light on innovation. On the rooftop terrace, a canopy of photovoltaic panels on a reclaimed steel frame provides shelter for events and an anticipated electricity supply of 11,740 kWh per year, which is fed back into the building’s electricity supply.

The Institute is a global leader in sustainability, and with the design team developed challenging environmental and wellbeing targets for EnerPHit (the Passivhaus standard for retrofit) WELL Gold and BREEAM Outstanding – believed to be a world first for all three standards.

This is a clear winner, showing how retrofit and refurbishment can, with determination and skill, achieve extraordinarily high environmental standards. All parties: the client, architect, and contractors are commended for not only setting but maintaining the vision for an exemplary and game-changing approach. The aim from the start was to feel normal while being deep green. The process has been recorded and operating standards are being closely monitored with the aim that others can both copy and better it.

CFCI Judges

Vision

All vision

Is demolition and rebuild always the solution?

Crafting High Performance Retrofit

Circular Economy

Is demolition and rebuild always the solution?

The Entopia Building has won the Refurbished / Recycled Workplace Award at the British Council for Offices Awards for the Midlands and Central England.

News

Entopia wins a regional BCO Award

10 May 2025

Architype

No Ordinary Building

During the retrofit, hoardings communicated 'this is not an ordinary project, but it needs to be'. In order to respond to the climate emergency, trailblazing projects like Entopia need to become the norm.

High environmental ambition delivered efficiently through imaginative, carefully considered interventions has delivered a landmark retrofit project that sets a new standard and is inspiring change.

Going beyond circularity in building design

Transitioning to a Circular Economy

Circular Economy

How do we break down barriers to deliver imaginative circular economy solutions?

Join Ann-Marie Fallon as she speaks at the Sustainable Construction Conference, held by Queen's University, Belfast.

Event

Join us at the Sustainable Construction Conference

25 February 2026

Helen Murray

Architype welcomed collaborators to our London Studio for a roundtable discussion between actors at key stages of the material reuse journey

Article

Disrupting Circular Conversations: A Deconstruction and Material Reuse Roundtable

31 July 2025

Architype

Circular economy principles have often been aspired to in building projects, but what does that really mean in practice?

Article

The circle of a building’s life

29 May 2024

Ben Humphries

Circular furniture

Leftover furniture in the existing building was diverted from landfill, avoiding wastage of 21,000kg of CO2, with 21,600kg of chairs, tables and storage cabinets donated to local communities.

Kintsugi brings a desk back to life

A high-quality wooden reception desk with a stone surface recovered from the headquarters of Netflix was re-shaped and repaired to fit the new entrance space.

Circular lighting

The building gained a BREEAM innovation credit through the contractor ISG who re-used 350 light fittings from another building refurbishment.

The Entopia Building is an exemplar of circular office design, celebrating the creative reuse of waste materials across every aspect of the project.

Design

I am often amazed at the thought that went into it, from the provider selection to the interior decorations. Second-hand and circular economy can be done in fashion. From Entopia, to the world! The atmosphere floating in the air is special. It is as if we all knew that Entopia is the place from where change is being made. It makes me feel proud and motivated.

Berenice Pardo Zolezzi, Project Manager, CISL

Expertise

The WELL standard

Based on 10 principles for wellness, from air quality to thermal comfort to acoustics, the updated WELL v2 standard contains very detailed criteria that looks in forensic detail at what it takes to create a healthy workplace.

Fresh air

Mechanical ventilation heat recovery (MVHR) units were used to bring in a constant supply of fresh filtered air.

Bio based materials for wellbeing

35% of the materials are bio-based using non-toxic materials to enhance health and wellbeing.

More daylight and less overheating

Architype undertook forensic analysis of the energy and daylighting benefits of replacing the 97 mock Georgian windows to overcome the planning challenges.

Driving down carbon emissions

Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) analysis was used to demonstrate that overall carbon emissions from the building will be cut by more than 80% over the next 100 years.