New sustainable headquarters for WWF-UK

Hopkins Architects gain planning consent for WWF-UK move

WWF-UK has moved a step closer to realising its ambition for a new sustainable headquarters that will support the charity’s mission and enable people to understand and engage more closely with its work. Planning consent was granted on Tuesday 8 February 2011 for Hopkins Architects’ design proposal for the redevelopment of the Brewery Road car park site in Woking, Surrey.

Cross section of the design. Image: WWF/Hopkins Architects. Click here to enlarge.

The design team will now move forward to refine the designs for WWF’s new UK headquarters, the Living Planet Centre, continuing to work closely with Woking Borough Council and the local community to create a building that is sympathetic to its natural surrounding whilst meeting the highest sustainability standards.

David Nussbaum, Chief Executive of WWF-UK says:
“We are delighted to gain planning consent for our proposal and look forward to working with Hopkins Architects, Woking Borough Council and the local community to develop the fine details of the design. 2011 is a special year for WWF as we celebrate our 50th anniversary. This planning decision opens up a new chapter for WWF-UK and we welcome the opportunity we now have to communicate our work to an even wider audience.

“We have listened to the views of the Woking community and worked hard to design a building that is sympathetic to the local environment whilst meeting our needs. WWF very much looks forward to moving to Woking, and creating an exemplar sustainable building that our new neighbours can be proud of.”

Model of the Living Planet Centre. Photo/Design: WWF/Hopkins Architects

The environmentally intelligent building with its eye catching timber arched roof will provide a new purpose-built headquarters for WWF-UK, when it moves from its current offices in Godalming. For the first time, the organisation will be able to showcase its global work through the building itself – with its state-of-the-art sustainable building techniques – and a specially designed area to create the ‘WWF Experience’. This new flexible public area will enable visitors – from school groups to local residents, MPs to business leaders – to explore and understand WWF’s environmental work.

The designs for the 3600m² HQ, created by Hopkins Architects, maximise on-site sustainability features. A predominant feature of the new building is its use of greenery. The new building sits on a raised podium over the existing car park whose perimeter will be planted with shrubs, trees and flowers, whilst a new wetlands area and the retaining of existing trees on site will provide a wildlife corridor from the canal to Horsell Common, showing how urban facilities such as car parks can be revitalised and repurposed for the better. A generous public piazza at podium level will lead through the exhibition space into the new headquarters beyond.

Top view of the model. Photo/Design: WWF/Hopkins Architects

Mike Taylor, Senior Partner of Hopkins Architects, says:
“The best architecture often comes out of the most difficult challenges; building an ultra green headquarters for WWF-UK over an existing car park has called for an especially innovative approach from all the design disciplines. We have all enjoyed the challenge and hopefully the resulting project, which builds on our previous experience using similar technologies, has created something entirely original which WWF-UK and Woking will be proud of. As well as providing a socially inclusive and uplifting place to work, it will add much more greenery to the site and hopefully inspire other projects around the world not to build on green field sites but instead to bring greenery into our already developed city centres”

WWF will now be looking to develop the site during 2012/13 and will continue to raise funds for the Living Planet Centre through a dedicated Capital Appeal.

Further Information:
WWF-UK
Panda House
Debbie Chapman
Weyside Park
Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XR • UK
Tel.: +44 (0)1483 412397
eMail: dchapman@wwf.org.uk
web: wwf.org.uk

Hopkins Architects
web: www.hopkins.co.uk