Anomaly Architects - The Harrison

The Harrison is the sensitive retrofit of a Grade II listed Victorian warehouse in Shoreditch, transforming a heritage asset into a highly sustainable, characterful workplace.

The ambitious brief was set out by Aviva under their Climate Transition Real Assets fund, of which The Harrison was the first scheme to be developed. The scheme delivers 52,598 sq ft of flexible office accommodation across five floors, a scheme that has 7 different buildings knitted together, with the first built in 1870 and the last in 1910, yet still achieves best-in-class office space, with communal terraces and generous daylight, along with achieving BREEAM Excellent and EPC A. Through collaborative working with the London Borough of Hackney and specialist consultants, the design balances conservation, commercial viability and long-term adaptability.

The foundation of our design was based on curation over intervention, ensuring the scheme retained and celebrated its character and industrial heritage of the original structure while delivering a future-ready environment that meets the evolving needs of modern tenants. Through a brief that balanced but not compromise on its ambition for a comprehensive retrofit, it answered the question on the limitations of taking what would otherwise be seen as a compromised building and making it a highly desirable home for the future office.

Externally, the building’s distinctive brick façade and proportional rhythm are preserved and repaired. An intensive and detailed review of all 193 in combination with comprehensive energy modelling to validate an EPC A rating enabled the retention of the original single-glazed Crittall windows, maintaining the façades prominence and reinforcing its presence within the neighbourhood. Even the roof plant was constructed on a specialised plinth at the base of the pitched roofs to hide the equipment from the street.

Internally, the scheme introduces a delicate reconfiguration of the core, threading in a new pink concrete feature staircase, two lifts, and new WCs, keeping the plan form whilst completely opening up how the office floors are accessed and utilised, improving efficiency, natural light onto the floors, and spatial flexibility.

The entrance and reception enhancements were integral to the overall strategy, creating a high-impact, highly detailed, and material-rich gateway into the building. Confined to only using the existing loading bay, the new reception underpins the overarching ESG agenda of the building: It included the feature stairs opening up directly into the space with the lifts hidden to promote passive use of the building, the reception desk formed from ground down bricks from the original building and set into a resin form to create the feature desk, and the art piece at the rear is made from a local artist that paints a story of areas of local cultural significance.

Across the office floors, it was an intensive and consistent approach to repair, retain, and celebrate original materials throughout. This included all the timber floors, timber ceilings where possible, any brickwork that was not part of the façade, and even the original sprinklers that whilst no longer in used, formed part of the listing. The floors also benefited from new rooflights, glazed elements, and carefully reopened window openings draw natural light deep into the interior, creating visual continuity with the surrounding streetscape and skyline. On the upper floors, the introduction of the roof terrace and pavilions provides a new threshold space that seamlessly links interior work areas with outdoor amenities that support wellness, informal meetings, and moments of respite.

Throughout the project, the approach prioritises transparency, permeability, and a sense of connection: circulation spaces align with apertures to frame views outward; materials transition softly from interior to exterior environments; and the building’s exposed shell is allowed to flow uninterrupted from façade to internal surfaces. This approach not only strengthens the character of the workspace but mirrors contemporary expectations around nature-connected, uplifting office environments.

The result is an interior architecture that feels both grounded in history and open to its urban setting, a workspace where the character of Shoreditch can be felt from every level, and where natural light and outdoor access become integral parts of the daily working experience.