The Entopia Building

Once a telephone exchange in the 1930s, the Entopia Building at 1 Regent Street is now an exemplar world-leading sustainable retrofit and home to the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and its canopy startup incubator. The four-storey building delivers 32,000 sq ft NIA of sustainable office space.

The retrofit has been carried out according to the Passivhaus EnerPHit standard refurbishment - one of the most stringent standards for energy retrofits. It is also on track to gain world-leading sustainability and wellbeing certification from BREEAM (Outstanding) and the WELL Building Standard (Gold) for sustainability, health, and wellbeing.

This standard of sustainability will contribute to Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL)’s mission to provide leadership for a sustainable economy. It also aims to pave the way for change in how buildings are managed, commissioned, and delivered to align with global and local sustainability ambitions.

Furthermore, circular economy principles have been central to the project and successfully delivered in various aspects including furniture re-use and the reconditioning and re-warranting of light fittings from another scheme.

The project is part funded by the European Regional Development scheme.

Winner - Best Conservation, Alteration or Extension of an Existing Building - Greater Cambridge Design & Construction Awards 2023

Winner - Low Carbon Project of the Year - Construction News Awards 2023