engineering.
For many at AKT II, 1 Broadgate is more than just a project. It’s part of our daily rhythm – a vibrant presence along our walk to the studio. Now, with practical completion achieved, it does more than mark our route; it enhances it.
Rising over the heart of the Broadgate campus, this 12-storey mixed-use development, designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for British Land and GIC, and built by Sir Robert McAlpine, brings a bold new identity to Broadgate Central. It is designed to promote openness, permeability, and public life, with generous landscaping and active frontages reinvigorating this key part of the City.
From street level to skyline, the building radiates energy, with a palette of red, orange, yellow and white cladding panels punctuating its elevation. Its colour, scale and intent all announce a shift: this is a building rooted in place yet open to transformation.
AKT II acted as both structural and façade engineers, helping realise the vision through technically complex and highly coordinated strategies.
A major design focus was the building’s extensive terraces – over 4,200m² of accessible outdoor space, spanning nearly a kilometre in combined length. These required integrated structural solutions to manage drainage, vibration, movement and acoustic performance across levels, while also achieving a high-quality landscape finish.
For the façade, we collaborated closely with Focchi Group to deliver a unitised curtain wall system that was ambitious in both scale and detail. Each panel stretches up to 5 metres long and weighs around a tonne. Logistics and fabrication were carefully coordinated from Italy, with our AKT II Envelopes team overseeing a rigorous programme of performance testing, including sandbag impact and wind-driven rain, to ensure every unit met the highest technical and visual standards.
The final palette spans 19 shades of powder-coated aluminium, ensuring consistency and vibrancy across all elevations.
1 Broadgate exemplifies a shift toward integrated, experience-led urban architecture. It’s not just a workplace – it’s a place of transition, community, and encounter. And for AKTers, it’s a daily reminder of the work we do, reflected back at us in colour and form.
