Watkins Payne provided MEP systems and IT cabling design services for the fit-out of 186,000ft² of commercial offices in the eight storey 1 Forbury Place in Reading, which formed the focus of SSE Services plc’s relocation strategy to consolidate several buildings from across southern England and accommodate 1,500 employees in a single location.
The Cat B fit-out design supports agile working, collaboration and connectivity, optimising employee and visitor comfort. Facilities include a café with catering facilities on the ground floor, main and secondary plant equipment rooms, a sixth floor conference and meeting rooms suite, and agile open plan office areas on other floors consisting of collaboration spaces, meeting pods and booths with VC facilities.
The majority of the base build MEP systems were retained, adapted and modified with flexibility in mind, to ‘future proof’ and support the Client’s needs.
The base build air conditioning, which is provided by electric VRF systems was modified to suit the fit-out. A standby generator was installed for resilience, and a fully networked CCTV and security access control system was provided to meet the Client’s operational requirements.
The Practice also assisted the Client in the initial due diligence exercise as part of the lease negotiations.
A Grade II Listed Building in the St James’s conservation area, 8 Waterloo Place has been refurbished to offer 22,500ft² of high quality office accommodation and 8,700ft² of restaurant shell unit, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, BREEAM duties and energy consultancy to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and an EPC B rating.
Exposed services has been adopted for the office floor provided new LED linear lighting, ducted fan coil units and power distributed within the office floors.
The refurbishment of 53 Great Suffolk Street in London involved the transformation of a historic warehouse into a contemporary office space. This project focused on preserving the building’s industrial character while introducing modern amenities and sustainable features.
The building at 20 St James’ Street has been refurbished to offer 53,295ft² of high quality office accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, vertical transportation engineering, BREEAM duties and energy consultancy to achieve an BREEAM ‘Very Good’ and EPC B rating.
Watkins Payne carried out the Independent Design Review role for 2 Aldermanbury Square, a redevelopment of the existing City Place House located at 55 Basinghall Street.
Academy House was refurbished to provide 22,100ft² of high quality office accommodation. Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering which saw the 3rd to 6th floor including the ground floor reception of Academy House converted into open plan office areas and reception. This became the London headquarters for Sports Direct.