Comprising six levels of office space topped by two storeys of residential demise, 106-110 Kentish Town Road was in need of a transformation. The communal layout was very dated and a security risk with three entrances at different corners of the building.
Refurbishing the office space over the lower ground and ground floors would give the opportunity to rejuvenate the building’s access and security while allowing the design team to pay homage to its historical past as Dunn’s Hat Factory.
The refurbishment provides office space, along with the ground floor being granted A1 retail use. High-level exposed services were designed to give an industrial warehouse feel. The offices are heated and cooled by independent variable refrigerant flow (VRF) air source heat pump systems and illuminated by suspended linear LED fittings.
Dedicated office reception and lower ground break-out space have all been finished to high specification with feature LED lighting throughout. Services are exposed with electrical conduit finished in yellow to provide a splash of colour against the industrial style finishes. New shower and toilet facilities have been provided and the existing duplex lift installations have been refurbished.
Located to the east of Carnaby Street and part of the Shaftesbury portfolio, 57 Broadwick Street has undergone an extensive refurbishment of the office and retail podium area to provide new shell restaurant and retail units, two new apartments on the fourth floor, and 20,445sq.ft office accommodation on first, second, third and part fourth floors.
Sustainability is incredibly important for the Client and as such the building is BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, WELL ‘enabled’ Gold, alongside WiredScore Platinum. In addition, the Design for Performance approach is been adopted in order to minimise operational energy and hence carbon emissions.
The mixed use development comprises two office buildings totalling 220,000ft² of high quality office accommodation together with a 289 unit residential scheme consisting of private apartments and affordable housing building.
Watkins Payne carried out the Independent Design Review role for Seal House, a commercial office development, located in central London.
The project also involved the refurbishment of the reception space and improvement of the cycle store entrance and wayfinding at basement level.