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Architects: Bisset Adams
- Area: 3600 m²
- Year: 2011
Text description provided by the architects. 100 Hatherton Street is a new £7 million headquarters for Walsall Housing Group, designed by Bisset Adams as a landmark building within the town’s designated ‘gigaport’ or office corridor. The building has been welcomed as a new landmark with its memorable high performance glazed façade with abstract tree graphic, making reference to the town’s historic arboretum.
The project has achieved BREEAM Excellent certification, with a number of sustainability measures including green roof, photovoltaic cells, high performance sustainable materials, and air source heat pumps.
The building was designed to work with a number of site constraints, including a considerable slope, a large unmapped culvert and a road-widening scheme; the dynamic Z-shaped building sits comfortably within the landscape, making using of the slope and hugging the corner of the site to offer a dramatic and inviting entrance statement. An ‘atrium slice’ creates an angled view through the building, providing visual links with all floors, and linking the main workplace block with a tower containing meeting rooms, directors suites, community space etc; bridges cross the atrium and varied and vibrant breakout spaces provide options for meeting and collaboration, offering dramatic views within and outside the building. Bisset Adams was also commissioned to design and deliver the interior fitout and furniture.
Walsall Housing Group (WHG) is a major employer within the town, and wanted to bring together disparate departments and a large number of properties and locations into one high profile town centre building, to foster an integrated workplace culture and a modern, customer-focused ethos. The new building aims to create closer links with the community, making a bold statement of confidence and modernity and providing a highly efficient and flexible workspace, a message of transparency, accountability and welcome to the public, and a range of public spaces and services on the ground floor.
