The Aurora office building in Ealing has been given a whole new lease of life through a meticulous refurbishment process.
To ensure that the costs were within budget, Watkins Payne conducted a detailed survey, which informed the scope of the project and enabled the team to focus on the essential elements to create a fresh, new and modern product within the building.
The scope was then transformed into a set of Employer’s Requirements, and a design and build contract was placed. The new and improved building now features a completely new Category A fit-out across all five floors. Each floor uses an air source VRF heat pump system, which provides optimum comfort, energy efficiency and tenant billing ease.
Furthermore, central plant and building-wide systems have either been replaced or refurbished to provide reliable and efficient services. Finally, new scenic passenger lifts have been installed in the atrium, linking up with the communal breakout space on the ground floor.
Watkins Payne reviewed a number of mechanical and electrical options with the team, focusing on retention of key central plant, overhaul and replacement of plant where required, and LED lighting to reduce energy and improve the office environment.
10 Fetter Lane needed some freshening up for marketing, so the first floor offices were to be modernised as a show stopper with a contemporary exposed services design and improved floor to ceiling height.
All MEP systems within One Hanover Street are being fully replaced, with new services distributed through the upgraded risers to each office floor. The refurbished building will benefit from high-efficiency heat-recovery systems, LED lighting throughout, intelligent lighting controls, a common network system and new fan-coil units among other modern building services upgrades.
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.
New build residential development providing 142 units over 3 blocks up to 16 storeys in height.
Watkins Payne carried out the Independent Design Review role for Seal House, a commercial office development, located in central London.