No End State: Counteracting Building Obsolescence Through Use

Post-Brexit and post-pandemic, office leases in London have plummeted to a 20-year low in the fourth quarter of 2022. Despite weak market demand, building developments continue, and thus so does demolition.

To counter the use of vacancy as a pretext for demolition, we set up No End State, a new agency within the built environment. Our mission is to prevent demolition resulting from building vacancy. Through advocacy and consultancy, we challenge the idea that the buildings we need must be built from scratch – instead, we strive to find new uses for existing structures.

Surveying ‘How We Got Here’

The project began by identifying a building at risk of demolition. The former City Hall building, designed by Foster + Partners and constructed in 2002, was selected for this reason. The Greater London Authority relocated to new premises in 2022 due to the building’s high maintenance costs. Because the structure was specifically designed to meet the GLA’s unique needs, its high-tech design makes it difficult to adapt for other uses. This challenge puts it at risk of demolition, as finding a potential tenant has proven difficult due to its bespoke design tailored to the GLA’s operations. A timeline was constructed to track the building’s history and identify the key decisions that led to its current situation.

Introducing No End State

Recognising that property vacancy poses the greatest risk to buildings facing demolition, No End State works to keep buildings occupied and in use. We employ a coordinated campaign using various tools to maintain building occupancy, ranging from policy and maintenance plans to marketing and architectural details. We understand that architects must extend their role beyond client engagement and become involved earlier in the process. This allows them to assist building owners in identifying possibilities for their buildings and steering them away from demolition.

Policy Addendum

We advocate for additions to existing policies that would effectively protect buildings from being demolished through functional use.

Protective Use

We occupy the ground floor of the architecture we are intervening in to protect the structure and bridge the community and stakeholder visions for the project. This is done through alternative programming.

Continuous Use

The strategy of continuous use seeks to incorporate successful uses of the building into its future programming. All adaptations are reversible and deconstructible, in case the building’s use changes in the future.