Eco-friendly renovations transform the CISL

Project

Eco-friendly renovations transform the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership

A world-first retro refit, built with sustainability in mind

For over three decades, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) has been working to develop solutions for a sustainable economy.

A globally influential institute, the CISL focuses on creating collaborations between businesses, governments, and financial institutions to deliver outcomes that fulfil the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

They came to us with a brief for a bespoke refit to their premises which, unsurprisingly, would be built with sustainability at its core.

CISL set new standards for sustainability

CISL operate from the Entopia Building, a retrofitted 1930s Telephone Exchange that has been transformed into an ultra-low carbon sustainability hub.

The Entopia Building is the vision of CISL founder Dame Polly Courtice. It is the perfect new home for CISL as it scales up its offering of helping the global transition towards sustainability.

CISL’s Cambridge-based staff are housed here across five buildings. Working with Eve Waldron Design, we fitted 117 modules across 22 run locations. The project ran for 5 months from start to finish, and CISL were delighted with the results.

Lockers and storage with an eco-friendly finish

One of the main priorities listed in CISL’s brief was the creation of secure personal lockers and office storage built with sustainable materials.

Following this brief, we produced lockers and storage in special, sustainable finishes, such as hemp-faced ply doors and poplar ply carcass panels – all combined with our RPC sidewalls. StorageWalls were also built using the EcoWall, combined with a beautiful ply and hemp finish.

It was James Tobias’s ability to produce bespoke solutions in non-standard finishes that led to CISL’s interest in us. We needed to adapt our standard products, rather than have a joinery company come in and manufacture everything from scratch.

Sustainable products were a must-have

This project evolved as it progressed, and we rose to the challenge of ensuring the correct amount of materials required were on order in advance.

The sustainable products we supplied included sidewalls made from RPC, plywood, and hemp-faced ply – with planters added to enhance the natural feel of the interior.

We were also asked to supply our stylish Zonix steel grid shelving, finished with poplar ply shelves, storage, and alcoves – another beautiful bespoke and sustainable addition to this project.