Wealth management FTSE 100 company St. James’s Place, wishing to extend their Cirencester headquarters using the adjacent site, renewed their long standing relationship with the original developer Citygrove. This was particularly helpful because the site location, close to the centre of historic Cirencester, necessitated a very considered architectural approach within various planning constraints.
To accommodate the requisite 50,000ft2 office space and associated car parking, the design incorporated a four-level vertical plant space to the side of the building and two levels of parking integrated into the overall building envelope with three office floors.
Design of the façade and choice of stone were carefully developed by architect Scott Brownrigg with the planners to meet the desires of both developer and tenant. It also achieved the thermal performance parameters needed to deliver the required energy strategy culminating in a B rated EPC.
The base build MEP design was worked up in conjunction with St. James’s Place to accommodate their fit out needs. That was then proven when the Category B fit out was added into the base build project for a turnkey delivery.
The building services use a 4-pipe fan coil unit arrangement with various ventilation systems to suit the different use areas. Full building power back-up standby generation, UPS, security and access control and automatic blinds all formed part of the fit-out.
During excavation, a Roman headstone – the first of its kind in England – was unearthed near skeletal remains. The Latin inscription on the tombstone was translated to read: “To the spirit of the departed Bodica, wife, who lived for 27 years.”
Centuries on, the entire team has delivered an impressive modern building which empathises with the legacy of this historic town.
The Grade II listed 21 St James’ Square building has been refurbished to offer 89,000ft² of high quality office accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, vertical transportation engineering, energy consultancy to achieve an BREEAM ‘Very Good’ and EPC B rating.
234 Bath Road development located in Slough is arranged over ground, first and second floors, with a basement level car park and podium level car park to the rear. The development constructed in 2016 stand at 68,000 ft2 of office accommodation. Part of the ground office floor area was utilised to provide a café to enhance the amenities within the development.
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.
Watkins Payne carried out the Independent Design Review role for Red Lion Court, a mixed use commercial office development, located in central London.
The speculative office space is fitted out to a Category A standard and will be British Council of Offices (BCO) Guide to Specification 2019 compliant. The refurbishment has adjusted the temperature control zones to pull them better in line with the BCO recommendations than currently provided.
1000 Hillswood Park is targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’, EPC target of ‘A’ and a NABERS UK Design Reviewed Target Rating of 5.0 Stars.