Executive Summary

What is FUSE?

FUSE reframes science space as a platform:

A high‑performing workplace that can be upgraded when needed. By avoiding day‑one overspecification, it reduces embodied and operational carbon, shortens delivery, and stays cost‑accessible. Structure, services and fabric are aligned around a lean baseline that can be enhanced through clear pathways - whether airflow, services or vibration performance - without preloading cost or carbon.

By layering essential infrastructure and enabling future adaptability, the model reduces upfront capital expenditure while maintaining long-term performance. The result is a building that is lower in embodied carbon, more cost-effective to operate, and faster to deliver on site. Critically, it sets out to address the growing disconnect between high construction costs and affordability for occupiers.

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A consultant and contractor collaboration between Fairhurst-Bond Bryan, Price & Myers, Ridge, Beyond Carbon, alongside Morgan Sindall Construction.

In the first six months of 2026, we assembled as a collaborative design and construction team to challenge the regular way we design complex workspaces. The building template we developed is called FUSE.

In FUSE, “economic” isn’t a marginal gain. It means delivering buildings where the cost allows investment models to significantly reduce current market rates - opening the door to a much broader occupier base. But there’s a tension at the heart of this challenge: flexibility.

We’ve traditionally tried to design buildings that can do everything, at any time. But that level of flexibility comes at a price - often driving construction costs up dramatically. FUSE challenges that thinking.

If a building is lower in embodied carbon, cheaper to construct and run and quicker to build, why not follow that template route? This has been the guiding aim of FUSE.

Instead of paying upfront for total flexibility, it takes a more strategic approach. The building is designed to evolve. Flexibility is not built in all at once - it’s planned over time.

Adaptability is built in from day one. Lower‑complexity workspaces and environments environments sit at the perimeter of the building, where people benefit from daylight and the potential for simpler ventilation strategies.

Higher‑complexity workspaces and environments are pulled toward the core - close to structure, risers and services - where they can be supported efficiently.

Crucially, the building doesn’t try to deliver all of that on day one if it is not required. It starts simple, and it evolves. Infrastructure is in place to support increasing levels of complexity over time, and upgrades are targeted only where they’re genuinely needed.

Structure and services are sized for upgrade not worst case. Capability is enabled at day one and added later only where needed.

The baseline structure supports office use across the entire floorplate, and around 70% already meets general lab vibration criteria.

Where higher precision is needed, performance can be achieved later - through local interventions and adaptions - not by over‑engineering everything from day one. That’s the FUSE principle in action: design the upgrade pathway, not the worst‑case scenario everywhere.

That thinking is perhaps best demonstrated in the structure and vibration strategy. Hundreds of options were tested, plotting cost directly against embodied carbon. What consistently came out as optimal was a simple, efficient reinforced‑concrete grid 6.6m x 7.2m with 225mm floor slabs.

Because FUSE is lean by default, the sustainability benefits are fundamental rather than cosmetic. Optimised form, reduced material use and right‑sized services drive lower embodied carbon and lower operational energy, while aligning credibly with the direction of standards and regulation.

MEP carries through these principles. On day one, FUSE is delivered as a high‑quality, all‑electric office environment. Specialist services - higher air‑change rates, process cooling, and laboratory gases - are enabled but not installed. Clear routes, capacity and connection points mean upgrades can be made quickly and cleanly in the future, without abortive work.

The same discipline applies to buildability. FUSE is designed as a system with its components following repeatable and efficient rules. Materials are used carefully, waste is designed out, and construction is faster, safer and more predictable as a result. All of this ultimately delivers value, and importantly, that value is measurable.

Comparative analysis against benchmarked office and laboratory projects* demonstrates that FUSE is 21% more cost-efficient than comparable schemes at shell and core stage, underlining its lean and efficient design. When assessed against CAT A fit-out costs, the day-one state of FUSE offer is 8% more economical, and is delivering a fully usable workspace environment.

So; FUSE isn’t a single building, and it isn’t a fixed product. It’s a platform. A more honest way of creating office or complex workplaces that start simple, upgrade with purpose, and remain affordable over time.

At its heart, FUSE is about making workspace easier to build, simpler to adapt, and cheaper to occupy, without compromising performance where it really matters.

_{*Cost comparison completed May 2026}

FUSE:

Design and development

Inspired by the natural logic of cell division, the building is conceived as an agile and flexible platform designed to grow in response to emerging needs. Just as biological cells replicate to form Increasingly complex organisms, each architectural "cell" acts as a functional, economical building block that can be added, adapted, or specialized over time. This modular approach creates a scalable environment capable of supporting Innovative endeavours-whether rooted In the laboratory, the workshop, or the digital realm-while maintaining a coherent structural and Infrastructural logic. By embedding simple, Intuitive rules for expansion Into the design, the building behaves like a living system: It can branch, differentiate, and reorganize as programs evolve. This ensures a future-proof framework where complexity can be seamlessly accommodated, resources can be efficiently distributed, and the overall architecture remains resilient, adaptable, and Inherently Innovative.

FUSE grows as an agile, flexible platform. Simple design rules allow it to scale and adapt, supporting Innovative work-whether In labs, workshops, or digital spaces. Like a living system, It expands, differentiates, and evolves, creating a resilient, future-ready environment that grows In complexity as ideas do.

Creating A SCALABLE Platform

FUSE is a scalable platform designed to support the knowledge economy. It begins with a simple question: can we create a sustainable, economically viable building that accommodates the full diversity of knowledge-based tenants?

Here, "economic" is defined by the ability of market and Investment models to deliver base rental costs below prevailing market levels.

A key challenge in delivering truly economic buildings lies in flexibility. Designing for maximum flexibility-to support any use at any time-drives construction costs exponentially. FUSE addresses this not by over-investing in upfront capital, but by embedding a clear, strategic upgrade pathway.

The building is conceived to evolve over time, enabling cost-effective, planned adaptation through deliberate design decisions.

A simpler way to understand complexity

The knowledge economy encompasses a wide spectrum of spatial requirements, often described using Inconsistent and overlapping terminology. To clarify this, we shift the focus from labels to levels of complexity:

At one end: simple, low-spec office environments
At the other: highly controlled, high-spec research spaces requiring strict environmental conditions

FUSE is designed to accommodate this full spectrum-from simple to highly complex environments.

Designing for real tenant needs

Most knowledge-based occupiers require a blend of space types, reflecting different operational needs. By analysing requirements at the level of Individual tenancies (demises), form optimises the building layout so that:

Higher-complexity spaces are concentrated at the centre of the floorplate
Lower-complexity spaces radiate outward toward the perimeter

This arrangement allows complexity to be delivered efficiently and economically.

In practical terms:

Heavily serviced, high-spec spaces are positioned adjacent to vertical service risers, ensuring efficient Infrastructure connections
Simpler spaces benefit from natural daylight and ventilation at the building edge

A platform that evolves

The building is designed to function Initially as a simple office environment. From there, it can be Incrementally upgraded, starting at the core and extending outward as required.

The base services infrastructure supports increasing levels of complexity up to a defined threshold
Beyond this point, further upgrades are delivered through targeted system enhancements
For the highest levels of complexity, tenants can implement bespoke
Installations, supported by roof-level plant or dedicated on-floor plant rooms

Balancing performance, cost and sustainability

FUSE represents a deliberate balance between competing design drivers-flexibility, performance, sustainability, and cost.

Rather than attempting to solve every requirement upfront, it provides a robust, adaptable framework that enables buildings to evolve alongside the needs of the knowledge economy-delivering long-term value while maintaining affordability.