Project Spotlight: 17 Columbus Courtyard

PROJECT SPOTLIGHT

Take a peek behind the

hoardings at 17 Columbus

Courtyard in Canary Wharf
A retrofit like no other

Take a peek behind the hoardings of this complex, yet exciting, retrofit project, reshaping 17 Columbus Courtyard from an office to life science space...Contents

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Project Spotlight: 17 Columbus Courtyard

Behind the hoardings: Reworking Canary Wharf for life sciences

Canary Wharf is synonymous with commercial towers and open‑plan offices, not scientific research.

Standing at the edge of North Dock, with the Elizabeth line cutting through the background, it’s clear just how atypical 17 Columbus Courtyard is for its setting.

Behind the hoardings, a former office building is being comprehensively re‑engineered into lab‑ready space, midway through an £80m retrofit that is demanding as much from programme management and logistics as it is from design.

This isn’t a cosmetic refurbishment. The scheme involves stripping the building back, replacing the façade, reshaping floorplates, upgrading structure and services, and pushing the limits of what can be

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achieved within an existing frame – all while operating on one of the tightest sites in London.

Walking the project with the delivery team, what stands out quickly is that this is less about transformation through reinvention, and more about precision: understanding what already exists, then working carefully around it.

Ashley Bowyer, Marketing and
Communications Manager

A building recast,
not replaced

The former office building is being repositioned to deliver a roughly 60:40 split between laboratory and office accommodation.

Lower floors are being fitted out speculatively for smaller life science occupiers, while upper levels remain open‑plan, allowing future tenants to configure their own environments and install specialist equipment.

Maximising lettable space is a constant design driver. Risers are tight, cores compact, and partitions pushed hard against beams and columns wherever possible.

In a new‑build scenario, services coordination would typically be
resolved in parallel with the
structure. Here, the process
has been reversed.

Only once strip‑out was complete could the team fully understand the realities of the existing building, capture accurate surveys, and rapidly coordinate a services strategy around it. That pace has been critical.

Design, coordination and construction have had to move almost simultaneously, with services being threaded through inherited constraints rather than designed into a clean skeletal grid.

It’s a challenge repeated floor after floor, particularly where lab requirements introduce greater demands for ventilation, containment and flexibility.

Value £77m
Client LS Estates
Architect Scott Brownrigg
Project Manager Arcadis
Engineer Ramboll

Phil Simpson
Senior Project
Manager

Logistics
at the limit

If the technical challenge sits inside the building, the operational challenge begins outside it.

Access and storage are extremely limited, with deliveries, lifting operations and material movements tightly controlled.

Just‑in‑time delivery isn’t a preference here, but a necessity. Trade contractors work to booked slots, hoists operate to strict schedules, and floor space must remain continuously workable.

That complexity increases further when major plant is introduced.

Large air handling units, chillers and associated equipment have been craned into position through carefully coordinated operations, agreed with Canary Wharf estate management and supported by temporary re‑routing where required.

With more than 200 operatives on site at peak, across close to 30 trades, logistics becomes a core discipline rather than a support function, critical to maintaining programme certainty on an exceptionally constrained site.

Shayne Marples
Site Manager

A new skin for performance, and appearance

One of the most visible changes to 17 Columbus Courtyard is the wholesale replacement of its façade.

Windows and cladding have been stripped away and replaced elevation by elevation, immediately changing how the building performs rather than simply how it looks.

Window shrouds are assembled on site, lifted two floors above their final position and carefully lowered into place by operatives working from external cradles.

It’s meticulous work, exposed to the elements, but essential to achieving airtightness and releasing internal zones for fit‑out.

Elsewhere, existing precast concrete façades have been retained where possible.

With the addition of internal linings, they are capable of meeting thermal performance targets while delivering significant carbon savings.

Retaining rather than replacing fabric has introduced coordination challenges, but it supports a longer‑term view of lifecycle efficiency rather than short‑term convenience.

A window ‘shroud’ being craned into place

Building for flexibility, and the next generation

Repurposing an office building into lab space comes with structural implications.

Floor slabs have been strengthened and topped to reduce vibration, ensuring sensitive equipment can operate without disruption. Services capacity has been future‑proofed, allowing the building to swing between lab‑heavy, mixed‑use or more traditional office configurations as market demand evolves.

Beyond the physical building, the project is also being used as a platform for skills and social value. A dedicated on‑site Knowledge Quad hosts workshops, bootcamps and site visits, bringing students, apprentices and local groups into direct contact with a live construction environment. With dozens of trades represented on site, it offers exposure that few classroom settings can replicate.

Sustainability sits alongside this approach. Glass from the removed façade has been carefully dismantled and recycled, carbon is being tracked through CarboniCa, and waste is tightly segregated and managed – all measures that are arguably harder to implement on a retrofit than a clean‑slate development.

Monica Paul, Senior
Social Value Manager

Social value impact to date

3 apprentices
4 work experience placements
58 young people engaged
5 STEM events
11 volunteer hours

Having the Knowledge Quad on site has been a huge benefit because we've been able to bring people into a safe, on-site classroom, where we can teach them about the industry. It's always busy!

Retrofitting
the Future

As the building comes together, 17 Columbus Courtyard begins to illustrate what retrofit at scale can look like when technical ambition, logistics discipline and flexibility are aligned.

It’s a building shaped by what already existed, rather than defined by what replaced it.

Walking out onto the terrace overlooking the dock, it’s hard not to see the scheme in the context of Canary Wharf’s wider evolution. Financial headquarters are giving way to mixed uses, research and innovation space, and more publicly accessible ground floors. This project doesn’t shout about that change – it simply gets on with enabling it.

At this halfway point, the challenges are very much ongoing. But the clarity of intent is there: reuse the fabric of the city intelligently, adapt it carefully, and deliver something capable of evolving long after construction is complete.