January 2023 saw the launch of one of the capital’s most keenly anticipated commercial destinations: The Black & White Building – the latest in flexible workspaces from leading co-working provider TOG, part of The Office Group.
Standing 17.8m above the street, the Shoreditch structure stands out among the concrete and glass high-rises surrounding it – the tallest mass timber commercial building in Central London.
Designed by leading sustainablearchitecture practice Waugh Thistleton Architects, alongside interior experts Daytrip Studios, it’s a one-of-a-kind building that showcases and celebrates the use of timber in contemporary urban architecture, as well as TOG’s commitment to environmentally progressive, energy-efficient development.
FACE VALUE
The building’s façade is a particular highlight, delivered by specialist contractor Pacegrade. Realising it needed to use beautiful, sustainable timber with a stylish finish, it consulted with long-time distribution partner James Latham to identify the perfect material.
Following a consultation with James Latham’s dedicated façade-specification team, it opted for PEFC-certified Holz Schiller European spruce curtain walling. One of the greenest engineered woods on the market, the material met the project’s low-carbon requirements and provided the strength and finish required within the design brief.
Its use was aesthetic, as well as contributing to the wider structure of the building, creating a visually striking effect across the façade. It elegantly frames the structure’s floor-to-ceiling glazing and enhances other features and finishes.
Going further, James Latham also supplied 96 sheets of grey, ochre, and red Viroc. Viroc is a robust composite panel, manufactured from pine wood particles, bound in cement. It possesses the flexibility of wood with added strength and durability, perfect for busy, public environments. The specifiers and fabricators were particularly impressed with the board’s full-body colour, which has become increasingly sought-after in recent years.
“Speaking as a business that has been involved in many industry milestones, it’s great to see very technical and modern types of timber being used across a building for the first time,” said Justin Hayward, technical timber manager at James Latham. “It demonstrates that this is a continually evolving product category. The curtain walling and Viroc selected from James Latham are some of the most cutting-edge engineered timber-based products available, showcasing how a time-honoured material remains relevant in contemporary design and specification.”
A JAMES LATHAM LANDMARK
There’s more to this project than initially meets the eye. In addition to The Black & White Building being a prestigious project to be involved in for its innovative use of timber, the site it occupies also holds great historical significance for James Latham, as the location of its very first drying shed and warehouse.
In the 18th century, Shoreditch was at the heart of the UK furniture industry, and the James Latham warehouse, which would occupy the space for the next 42 years, represented the distributor’s first commercial property since its foundation in 1757.
The establishment of the drying shed and warehouse marked the starting point of James Latham’s ongoing aspiration not only to champion timber as a preferred architectural and joinery material but also to make it as accessible as possible for its diverse audience of specifiers, fit-out professionals, and furniture manufacturers. This approach remains at the heart of the business today.
Since these modest beginnings, James Latham has grown significantly over the last 200 years to occupy 18 sites and become one of the nation’s most respected distributors of sustainable, technical timber. Ever aware of its rich heritage and association with London’s East End, when The Black & White Building project was presented by Pacegrade the firm jumped at the opportunity to be involved.
“Not only does this project represent a landmark in commercial architecture, it also allowed us to re-establish our association with this vibrant community, which remains a centre for design and craftsmanship,” explained James Latham’s chairman, Nick Latham. “It’s amazing to see how TOG, Waugh Thistleton, and Daytrip Studios have used timber to such great effect within both the structure and finish of the building.” “Indeed, the project also perfectly represents James Latham’s tradition-rooted but forward-thinking approach, a constantly evolving distributor with over 265 years of timber distribution expertise.”
TOTALLY TIMBER
The Black & White Building possesses many other stand-out features, complementing James Latham’s contribution and emphasising timber’s incredible potential for interior and exterior specifications.
These include thermally modified timber (TMT) louvres on the building’s exterior, which reduce solar gain on the façade while maximising the natural light reaching the interior (see p50). Running from street level to rooftop, the louvres change in depth as they ascend the building in order to optimise energy efficiency.
The louvres were made from tulipwood, recommended by the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC). As well as being affordable and attractive, tulipwood is lightweight, hardwearing, readily replenished, and currently available in surplus as a result of storms in the US bringing down many shallow-rooted trees.
Structurally, the architects made use of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). These are high performance wooden materials that are rapidly renewable, highly durable, easily recyclable, and less waste-generating than concrete and other conventional construction materials. This applies in both manufacture and logistics – as well as generating less greenhouse gas emissions in production, CLT and LVL are lighter and easier to transport than concrete and steel, requiring fewer site deliveries and therefore saving both on carbon and traffic disruption to the busy urban setting.
Used throughout the building, the CLT frame and LVL columns and beams were engineered to be slotted together, which means that, not only did the structure require a smaller workforce to assemble, but it can also be easily disassembled, piece by piece. This means that, at the end of the building’s life, its constituent materials can be recovered and reused in other products, embracing the principles of the circular economy.
SUSTAINABILITY AT ITS HEART
James Latham is among a number of suppliers who have directly contributed to The Black & White Building’s outstanding carbon credentials, which position it as one of London’s greenest and cleanest commercial office spaces.
Overall, The Black & White Building generates 37% less embodied carbon than an equivalent concrete scheme, saving a staggering amount of CO2.
Furthermore, 55% of the building’s embodied carbon is sequestered within the timber structure. As WTA’s Andrew Waugh, the lead architect on the project puts it: “It is a massively carbon-saving building that comes way below the targets set out by the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI).”
SUPPORTING THE NEXT GENERATION TOG’s
ongoing commitment to social responsibility and supporting the community also encompassed the launch of a special charitable scheme to complement the wider activity of The Black & White Building project: ‘Makers & Mentors’.
The initiative saw TOG team up with social enterprise POoR (Power Out of Restriction) Collective to launch a scheme to help design students bolster their expertise before heading into the industry. Under the expert guidance of three established designers (Sebastian Cox, Matteo Fogale, and Andu Masebo) the programme saw a select trio of students each develop a piece of furniture, accessory, or artwork that referenced the sustainable design principles that underpin The Black & White Building.
Dedicated to supporting the timber industry as well as its audience, James Latham was keen to be involved with the scheme when first approached by TOG. James Latham became one of the scheme’s partners, donating a wide array of timber for the participants to use, including super prime American black walnut, American white ash, American red oak, American white oak, American cherry, maple, beech, birch ply, and Flexiply. The resulting pieces of furniture included a bench, a rocking horse, and a side table.
“We have a proud history of supporting industry talent and the Makers & Mentors project presented a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a scheme that will inspire and motivate the next generation of furniture designers,” said James Latham’s group head of marketing, Stuart Devoil. “Furthermore, it presents a hands-on chance to demonstrate the creative and functional potential of wood, and why it remains the go-to material category for furniture, cabinetry, and joinery purposes. The results are seriously impressive and serve as an indicator of exciting things to come in the UK design community.”
REACHING HIGHER GROUND
Ultimately, The Black & White Building represents a seminal moment in timber design and construction, perfectly exhibiting what gives this material such timeless appeal. This is further emphasised by the site’s longstanding association with timber, which has seen James Latham, its original occupant, return to play a part in its new incarnation as an ultra-stylish workspace.
TOG’s co-founder Charlie Green sums it up: “The Black & White Building represents a major step forward for us and, I hope, the wider industry too. It’s a statement of who we are and how we will approach sustainability; this project proves mass timber is suitable – even preferable – for large
scale commercial properties. We don’t need to build the traditional way with concrete and steel anymore.”
