The Green Mile:

“The Green Mile proposes a new vision for the City of London, as a way forward from the crucible of crises we currently face: Covid, Brexit and the Climate Crisis.

Much of the project has sought to explore the complexity of the City of London, taking present challenges as an opportunity to investigate what it can offer beyond economic self-interests. With nearly half the residents of neighbouring Tower Hamlets claiming some level of benefits, there is a large disparity in the social reality of those who work in the City and those who live in its shadow.

With the departure of its main tenant, a major financial institution, the project uses 135-175 Bishopsgate as a tool to hack into the City’s intrinsic qualities and encourage an explosion of green industry. We imagine a future for the building as the Institute for Green Research, home to Research and Development departments of major corporations and start-up companies alike.

As students of the LSA, the work-education hybrid is a familiar model. As such we see the integration of classrooms and auditoria into work spaces as a key tenet of both our economic and social manifesto. We believe that the emphasis on apprenticeships, re-skilling and retraining into new sustainable methods of hydrogen production, net-zero transport strategies and green finance will be integral to Britain’s recovery from the accumulation of crisis, growing to become pioneers in green technology.

Capitalising on the building’s immense ground floor presence and unique location, the integration of a public programme embedded in nature and accessible to all is another key tenet of our manifesto: the Green Mile is for the benefit of all and not just a select few.”

Read the final research paper here:

Design Think Tank leaders: Blazej Czuba, Rafael Marks, Charlotte Hurley & Anna-Lisa Pollock.

Design Think Tank students: Abigail Glancy, Jack McGuinness, Ash Zul Parquear, Jonathan Boon, Leo Sixsmith and Gannaty Rahman.