The latest Building Insights podcast with Alina White, an associate at Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects, is now live.
With the pandemic having left a question mark over many urban commercial office environments, clients are keen to employ the design tools that will achieve sustainable and wellness-focused buildings to attract staff back. In our podcast, managing editor of ADF (Architects’ Datafile), James Parker speaks to Alina about how her practice and the industry in general is responding to the challenge.
Alina discusses Three Chamberlain Square, FCB Studios’ major office scheme underway in the centre of Birmingham, a low carbon building (both in terms of emissions and embodied carbon), which the architects believe will deliver a new level of wellbeing for staff. She explains how it aligns with key themes uncovered in Industry Viewfinder research ADF undertook to discover architects’ views on the state of sustainability in the commercial sphere.
The survey showed that staff and clients were increasingly aware of the contribution of buildings to climate change, and want to work in premises and for organisations that are explicitly reducing their footprint. The podcast discusses this as well as how, with staff in short supply, and the cost of replacing them onerous, building owners and tenants are prioritising certified sustainability and wellness in order to attract the best.
In a revealing and insightful conversation, Alina explains how firms such as FCBStudios are tackling the challenges for clients and creative context-sensitive designs in the process.
Alina is an architect who joined FCBStudios in 2002, and was made an associate in 2017. She has worked in both Bath and London for the practice, and has focused on commercial projects, as well as high-profile residential and schools.