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 completed site now comprises four detached industrial warehouse units ranging from 14,000sq ft to 36,000sq ft, all with naturally ventilated and heated offices. The two larger units each have an 8 person MRL passenger lift, while the smaller units have been provided with platform lifts. The warehouse area was designed as a shell for future fit-out with capped off utility services.
The building at 10 New Burlington Street has been redeveloped to offer 172,000ft² of high quality office and retail accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, vertical transportation engineering and energy consultancy to achieve an EPC B rating. We also supplied BREEAM services and achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating for the development.
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 carbon neutral status was achieved by exemplary as-built air tightness facade solar and thermal performance significantly in excess of the Building Regulations requirements, highly energy efficient M&E systems, LED lighting and photovoltaic panel arrays on the roof of the warehouse.
The 7,600ft² area of 7 Bermondsey Street near London Bridge Station was refurbished to high quality office accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering and vertical transportation engineering. The refurbished area is spread across basement and ground floor.
