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Architects: Reiach and Hall Architects
- Area: 12500 m²
- Year: 2011
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Photographs:Dave Morris
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Manufacturers: KEIM
Text description provided by the architects. This is not an ordinary office building. It is Dundee City Councils headquarters and is the primary location where the citizens of Dundee will meet their council officers. As well as containing the councils spatial needs the building has an important civic role to play re-using and reinvigorating a protected derelict industrial building, which is located in a slightly forgotten part of the city the new building has begun the process of revitalising this area.
The function of the building is to enable the provision of the council’s office services. The building will contain approximately 900 staff and has a floor area of 12,500 sqm. A component of the brief is to stimulate departmental interactions, so all communal facilities are co-located outside the departments.
The functional requirements, when considered with the civic nature of the proposals informed the external expression. The historic building is retained. The new offices are placed to the west, rising above their neighbours in three towers, signalling the Council to the city, a linear core is placed between the old and new, working with the existing linear site emphasis and providing intuitive navigation of the large floor plates. The existing building is re-roofed with a contemporary attic.
The building adopts highly sustainable principles with natural ventilation and exposed thermal mass and was BREEAM assessed as excellent.
