ABSTRACT
Rather than describe a building in detail, my chapter recounts the commissioning of a green office building from the perspective of a client From 1991 to 1995 I was the project director on behalf of the Addison Wesley Longman Group for the new headquarters building at Harlow in Essex. Their previous building designed in the 1960s by Sir Frederick Gibberd was air-conditioned, inefficient and poorly regarded by staff. As a major publishing house, the group had specific needs for a combination of open-plan and cellular space, but above all the company needed modern, healthy office accommodation that fostered greater communication and creativity in staff.
