City Hall: a world-leading sustainable building in the heart of the Royal Docks

Situated in the Royal Docks, City Hall is home to The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the London Assembly.

The building’s outstanding sustainability credentials, were a key decision behind the move, alongside the regeneration of the Royal Docks.

You can find out more about the building’s features in this film.

A sustainable home for the Mayor and the London Assembly
The Mayor has set a target for London to become net-zero carbon by 2030 to tackle the climate and ecological emergencies and he is leading by example with City Hall.

Saving energy and natural resources is now more crucial than ever, with rising energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis impacting Londoners and businesses.

London’s City Hall in the Royal Docks received an ‘Outstanding’ BREEAM rating – the highest possible standard for sustainable construction – for its refurbishment to become the new home of the Mayor and the London Assembly. Previously known as the Crystal, it was the world’s first building to achieve dual certification for ‘BREEAM Outstanding’ and ‘LEED Platinum’ sustainable construction standards when it opened in 2012.

Energy efficiency
City Hall is projected to use around 50 per cent less energy compared to other buildings of the same size. The all-electric building runs on 100 per cent renewable energy and features 1550m2 of solar photovoltaic panels and 17.5m2 of solar thermal panels which generate electricity and provide hot water.

Lighting was also upgraded to high efficiency LEDs, and the building is triple-glazed to reduce the need for heating and cooling. Modern sensors control how energy is used, ensuring it’s as efficient as possible.

Electric charging is also provided in our disabled parking bays.

Efficient use of natural resources
The fit-out enhanced the building’s existing sustainability features. Ground source heat pumps use the natural renewable energy from the earth for heating and cooling. Solar photovoltaic and thermal panels have been installed to reduce carbon footprint and generate electricity and hot water for the whole building.

Waste minimisation
An underground 60,000-litre rainwater harvesting tank provides an alternative water supply for toilet-flushing and irrigation which combined with water efficient fixtures and fittings contributes to a 50 per cent reduction in water consumption.

At the front, visitors can fill up their water bottles thanks to the new Refill London drinking fountain, one of more than 100 installed around London to help reduce the number of single-use plastic water bottles and provide free access to healthy tap water.

Thriving nature
As part of the refit, biodiversity in the yard was improved through bee friendly sustainable landscaping.

Sustainable furniture
Even the building’s carpets are sustainably sourced, made from recycled fishing nets as part of the Net-Works initiative, designed to tackle the growing environmental problem of discarded fishing nets in some of the world’s poorest coastal communities. The vast majority of the furniture has been re-used from the old City Hall, and usable items from the old building that were no longer needed were donated to charities.

Come and visit us
Parts of City Hall is open to the public on Mondays to Thursdays, 8:30am to 6pm, and on Fridays, 8:30am to 5:30pm. Come down and see what we're doing to contribute to net zero 2030.

Visit City Hall