US investment bank Citigroup is set to give their Canary Wharf EMEA headquarters a £100m refurbishment over the next three years.
The 42-storey office block at 25 Canada Square will be completely overhauled to create flexible work and collaboration spaces, as well as plenty of wellbeing zones for employees. It will also be one of the largest workplace refurbishment projects in Europe.
Staff wellbeing
“Citi challenged us to make a 20-year-old tower compatible with its vision for the future of work,” said Yasmin Al-Ani Spence, the director at architectural firm WilkinsonEyre, the lead designer of the refurbishment project. “Our architectural interventions will hopefully inspire both staff and visitors to Citi.”
According to Al-Ani Spence, wellbeing is a key element of the refurbishment and the project includes innovative collaboration spaces, enhanced connection, state-of-the-art amenities and more access to greenery. A promenade and a winter garden are part of the scheme. As are wellness centres, a gym, a food court, coffee bars and prayer and contemplation rooms.
“The internal layouts are anchored around a number of vertical villages,” says Al-Ani Spence “which break down the traditional floorplates and encourage inter-connection between levels.”
Although the bank confirmed that refurbishment plans were well under way before the pandemic struck back in March 2020, the flexible floor design and amenities fully support the bank’s new hybrid way of working post COVID. And the contemporary upgrade will also go some way to appeasing staff who are now required to spend at least three days of the working week back in the office.
David Livingstone, Citi’s chief executive for EMEA said: “Our rejuvenated EMEA headquarters will be designed to maximise collaborative workspaces, supported by technology, to enable us to work flexibly and with maximum agility.”
Environmental considerations
The group had considered knocking the building down and starting again, according to Livingstone, but decided to go down the refurbishment route as the more ecological option. By opting for a refurb instead, the bank has avoided releasing more than 100,000 tonnes of embodied carbon, which is the CO2 emitted to produce a new building. Citi estimates this is the equivalent of running 21,739 family cars for a year.
The renovation will also lead to a significant reduction in electricity and water, with the installation of a new ‘greywater’ recycling system, which reuses water from basins and showers in the toilets and urinals.
As workplace emissions come under the spotlight and there’s pressure to be ‘greener’, Citi claims the tower will emit zero carbon under normal operations.
“Our aim is to create an environmentally sustainable, innovative and exciting place to work,” says Livingstone, “incorporating modern design, state-of-the-art technology, and best practices in employee and client spaces.”
The refurbishment will also create more public space, with visitors able to cross easily between Canada Square and Jubilee Park, two of the main green spaces within the Canary Wharf estate.
Staff on the move
The Citigroup tower at 25 Canada Square was designed by Cesar Pelli & Associates and completed just over 20 years ago. At 200m, it’s only 35 metres shorter than its more famous Canary Wharf neighbour at One Canada Square, and was bought by the investment bank in 2019 for a cool £1.29bn. It had previously leased the building from 2001 but purchased the block as part of its global strategy to own, not rent, its major office buildings in order to save costs.
Citi employees are currently located at both 25 Canada Square and the neighbouring 18-floor 33 Canada Square, where the trading floor is based. During the refurbishment, which is set to complete in 2025, all of Citi’s 9,000 London staff will relocate to 33 Canada Square, as well temporary spaces leased elsewhere in Canary Wharf. Citi is not renewing its lease at 33 Canada Square when it expires in five years, and will consolidate all its staff in the main, newly refurbished tower.
Post pandemic confidence
Although quiet during the months of the pandemic, Canary Wharf has seen a resurgence of late with workers returning to their desks, residential purchases on the increase and an uptick in residential lettings. The hugely popular Summer Lights exhibition is set to return too, which is always guaranteed to draw a crowd.
There’s a sense of ‘getting back to business’ around the place. Citi’s announcement regarding the refurbishment has been described by the bank as a vote of confidence for the area post Brexit and post pandemic. And it's very much seen as a demonstration of the group’s ongoing commitment to London as its EMEA headquarters.
