Tony White from Hopkins Architects and Alistair Finn, advancement advisor and task supervisor, discuss the thinking that notified the style of WWF-UK’s Woking HQ– winner of the Workplace Award at the Test of Time Awards 2025. Completed in 2013 and rephotographed for the Test of Time Awards by Timothy Soar The Living World Centre (LPC)in Woking was designed in action to WWF-UK’s requirement for a headquarters structure that was both environmentally exemplary and openly appealing, and that embodied the organisation’s more comprehensive conservation objectives. The structure is raised on a concrete podium above an existing public car park, which required to be reconfigured and kept.
A large, column-free plan with raised access floor covering supplies open-plan work space for more than 300 personnel, promoting partnership while allowing for simple reconfiguration of the internal layout as working practices develop. Conference centers and education and exhibit space are readily available for usage by the wider neighborhood, in addition to the organisation itself. The structure is topped by a wood gridshell roofing system with integrated photovoltaic panels and wind cowls. The LPC employs a mix of passive and active ecological systems to minimise operational carbon. These consist of natural ventilation, heat healing, earth ducts for temperature regulation, and rooftop PVs offsetting a considerable portion of emissions. Water preservation is attained through rainwater harvesting and greywater recycling, and travelling effects are lowered through a green itinerary. The structure is carefully incorporated into its eco-friendly context, surrounded by planting and wetlands to support biodiversity and enhance the general public realm. In use, the centre has provided substantial decreases in energy, water and waste. It has actually likewise substantially enhanced personnel complete satisfaction and health and wellbeing, showing the worth of purchasing sustainable office environments. Designed by Grant Associates, the landscape technique strengthens habitat links with existing wildlife passages and the nearby ancient forest. Tony White This was a brownfield redevelopment website,
and the design approach was driven by the fact that it contained a 180-space parking lot. It was imperative that the parking area would remain as an automobile
park once the building was completed, so we were necessarily looking at an air rights structure that was going to retain that function. The car park is still there, but now floating over it is this magic carpet of the new WWF-UK lodging, protected by a lumber gridshell roof. There were different other site restrictions to consider. There’s a bridge that connects the parking lot with Woking town centre, and there’s a canal running along the south east side of the building. In addition, there are Sites of Special Scientific Interest off to the other side of the structure. So the centre borders woodland, and what was really key was the plant life and planting that surrounds the structure itself. The sustainable urban drain system utilizes attenuation from this plants and planting, and this part of the project is likewise essential for ecological outreach work, which was absolutely essential to the short. The building was always created to be available to the general public and a resource for the local community, so it consists of an interactive public exhibit area called the WWF Experience, which was developed by Jason Bruges Studio. The LPC sits below the level of the surrounding treetops, while brand-new planting promotes biodiversity and enhances the general public world. Alistair Finn I’m Alistair Finn from MP2 Consulting. In my previous life, I provided development and project management support to WWF. And for me, the reason this building has been so successful in regards to winning awards– aside from its architectural excellence– is that it’s the very best example that I’ve experienced in my profession of the style fulfilling the short. WWF set out an aspirational short, and this building caught it brilliantly in regards to both style and delivery. It’s a terrific example of the triple bottom line– the three Ps: individuals, world, earnings– since not only does this capture the design quality, it maintains that earnings stream for the regional authority with the parking lot remaining listed below and in usage. 
Left: View from the mezzanine level. The open-plan, column-free design encourages cooperation and uncomplicated reconfiguration as work patterns evolve.Right: Cone-like wood structures articulate the ground-floor exhibit location. Tony White We utilized pre-manufactured parts; the diagrid delivered substantial benefits in regards to both quality and the speed and efficiency of construction. We utilized FSC timber for the roof. The job was an early example of using phase-change products. The insitu mezzanine floorings are themselves excellent in regards to thermal mass, but we utilized paraffin wax-based stage-modification boards for the soffits to further increase thermal mass. The photovoltaics are supplying 20 percent of the managed energy that’s used by this structure. Airtightness and insulation considerations were crucial. That thinking is extensive now that Passivhaus has acquired traction, but it was less typical at the time. Alistair Finn It’s worth keeping in mind that a person of the factors the task was so pioneering at the time was its
technique to whole life costing and carbon analysis. It achieved a development credit from the BRE through the BREEAM scheme, where carbon was successfully identified in addition to the traditional method of just evaluating cost through modification control and so on. So it was introduced effectively as a currency, again driven by the customer’s quick.< img width= "1700 "height ="2267 "src="https://atlive-wp.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/260106-AT-WWF-0628.jpg"alt =""/ > 
Lumber brise-soleils on the gable ends minimise solar gain, while wind cowls situated atop the curving zinc roof draw fresh air through the structure.
Tony White Following on from some work that we ‘d done for the Jubilee School in Nottingham at the end of the 1990s, we introduced wind cowls to draw fresh air through the building. Earth ducts assist to warm incoming air throughout the winter season and cool it in the summer months. Solar shading studies were done to make certain that the comprehensive glazed areas wouldn’t cause getting too hot, and to inform the style of the wood brise-soleils on the gable ends. With the mix of rooflights and the shading provided by the structure itself, daytime was shown to be better than four percent over 90 percent of the office floor area. There’s an intriguing point about the double glazing: it was found that the increased embodied energy of triple glazing outweighed the advantages of improved insulation, so there was a conserving there in regards to both carbon and cash.
Alistair Finn WWF are really pleased with their structure. Tanya Steele, President of WWF-UK at the time, said: “We are happy to have actually belonged to bringing to life a building that is aesthetically stunning and a leading example
of sustainable, low-carbon advancement. The Living World Centre is an unbelievable location to operate in and stands proudly in the heart of Woking as a model not for the future however for the world we require now.” We believe the quote represents itself.
Tony White At That Time, WWF were already thinking about working from home and introducing clean desk policies, and not having actually dedicated private workstations. So when the pandemic hit, this was something that they were effectively gotten ready for. The structure today looks no different. There haven’t been any modifications at all.