Refurbishment Channel 4 shortlisted for Structural Awards 2024

Octatube is proud that the challenging project of refurbishing the Grade II-listed facade of Channel 4 in London is shortlisted for the Structural Awards 2024.

For the revitalising of this 1990s icon, we joined forces with Arup. The concave, suspende glass facade was originally designed by Richard Rogers. The refurbishment made minimal modifications to the original design and focused on reusing materials to minimise carbon footprint.

We were asked to preserve the high-tech appearance of the distinctive façade while updating it to meet modern safety standards. After conducting structural assessments, calculations and disassembly testing, we thoroughly cleaned and refurbished all elements of the cable net façade and reassembled its intricate structure. We redesigned the suspended glass façade, replacing all monolithic glass panels with tempered laminated glass.

This project demonstrates that refurbishing complex designs rather than building new ones is feasible, though challenging.