School of Business and Management

Queen Mary’s Mile End campus began life in 1887 as the People’s Palace Technical Schools, soon changing its name to East London College and in 1937, to Queen Mary College (after Queen Mary of Teck, the wife of King George V). This is one of Queen Mary’s four founding institutions and over time, the University has gradually expanded at Mile End to meet the Regent's Canal on its Eastern side. The Regent's Canal opened in 1820 and prior to Queen Mary taking ownership on the canal side area in the 1980s, this stretch of the canal was known as Commercial Wharf and occupied by railway sidings and industrial buildings up until the second world war.

No. 357 Mile End Road which sits at the junction of the Regent's Canal and Mile End Road was built by the Gardner family who operated Commercial Wharf at around the time that the canal was completed. It was altered and partially rebuilt in the 1960-70s and up until recently was used by research groups within the University.

The Lock Keeper's Cottage at Mile End Lock dates from 1865 and is one of only two original surviving lock keeper's cottages on the Regent's Canal. The pumphouse was removed and the current extension was added in 2005 to provide a Graduate Centre for the University. Since the completion of a new Graduate Centre on the campus in 2018 the building has been under-used.

Located within the Tower Hamlets stretch of the Regent's Canal conservation area, a central aim of the project is to provide greater access to the canal side area, respect the heritage setting with high quality new buildings and landscaping and through heritage wayfinding to provide access to heritage information for students, staff and the general public.

The design for the new building prioritises passive design principles, optimising and responding to the site orientation, maximising the potential for natural daylight, natural ventilation and exposed thermal mass of the concrete frame, with nighttime ventilation. And a fabric first approach to achieve a highly insulated, airtight envelope to minimise energy consumption whilst optimising daylight uniformity.

The design team each utilised embodied carbon calculating software to help refine the design at the early stages with a focus on the structural frame, the environmental systems, the facades, and the internal partitions and finishes. The structural frame design was also referenced against design proposals from two years before and showed significant reductions in embodied carbon.

The whole building will be provided with mechanical ventilation (with heat recovery systems). Even to smaller spaces such as academic offices which will rely a lot of the year on natural ventilation through opening windows. This will ensure that in the winter months the whole building can be sealed shut and the heat loss / energy use is minimised, and air quality and thermal comfort maximised.

The London Plan and the Tower Hamlets Local Plan set a high bar for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in use. This will result in a 45% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the 2013 standards and on-site renewable energy systems that include photovoltaic panels and air-source heat pumps. The project is also targeting BREEAM Excellent and to be a LETI (Low Energy Transformation Initiative) Pioneer project which demonstrates best practice in designing for a net zero carbon future.

A key ambition for the project is to revitalise the southeast corner of the campus through the new building along with a significant refurbishment of two existing vacant buildings which will also reduce long term energy use.

The landscape design is central to the proposals and will improve biodiversity through several enhancements that include the creation of a green wildlife corridor between the cemetery and the canal and new canalside floating marginal planting. Rainwater run-off will be attenuated through a mix of SuDS measures including brown roofs, planted swale and permeable paving. Finally, a large new cycle hub will encourage sustainable transport.