Brent Civic Centre

Designed around the entrance atrium, a 30 metre octuple-height performance venue, the civic centre fits with Brent Council's 'one building, one council' strategy, aimed at reducing costs, promoting staff interaction and freeing up other sites for regeneration,

The atrium opens onto adjacent areas or is visually connected with them by glass walls. To the right of the main entrance there is a library and customer self-service accommodation, where officers explain how to use the computers and use online resources.

Beyond this is a retail zone, its frontage facing the pedestrianised Olympic Way and on the atrium's left side a wedding suite links to smart geometrical ceremonial gardens.

Above the library, like a building within a building, is a four storey rotunda, known as The Drum at Wembley. This houses a civic chamber, ringed by two stories of committee and member rooms above a double height multi-purpose community hall.

These spaces are for multiple functions, including conferences, banquets and weddings: the centre's facilities cater for demand from Brent's large Asian population, acknowledged with spice colour coding strategy.

There's also extensive public foyer and patio space on the upper levels, with a winter garden at the foot of the drum and terraces on the third floor.