Northcliffe House, the original Daily Mail building south of Fleet Street has been extended and refurbished. The project received planning consent in January 2021 and we have taken the design through to RIBA Stage 4. The practice has been working on the project from the initial feasibility studies through to the present.
The project involved the refurbishment and extension of the existing building to deliver over 260,000sq ft of office space over lower ground to sixth floor levels, together with a new ground floor entrance, new landscaped terraces and retail provision, along with new basement end of journey facilities.
Sustainability was high on the Client’s agenda throughout with the project targeting BREEAM ‘Excellent’ from the outset. As the project developed the aspiration for the achievement of BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ was ambitiously pursued and in August 2023 the project was successfully awarded this ‘Outstanding’ rating. The sustainability principles were adopted where the constraints of the existing building allowed together with maximising biodiversity and renewable energy solutions.
As part of the refurbishment, in line with the current London Plan requirements, the combustion of natural gas has been omitted from the building. Heating and domestic hot water is now provided by air source heat pumps.
The low and zero carbon technologies included in the scheme are air source heat pumps to provide the heating and cooling, water source heat pumps to elevate the domestic hot water services temperature and an array of PV above the roof external plant enclosures. The incorporation of these LZCs in conjunction with energy efficiency measures such as LED lighting throughout with occupancy and daylight dimming controls has contributed to an overall Building Regulations Part L2 carbon emission saving of 64.1 %.
‘The Northcliffe won the award for best Refurbishment and Fit Out (RFO) at the BREEAM 2024 Awards in July 2024.’
Situated in Southwark on the intersection of Great Suffolk Street and Union Street, the iconic red brick Union House, historically a warehouse converted into offices, has undergone a substantial redevelopment.
The mixed use development comprises two office buildings totalling 530,000ft² of high quality office accommodation together with a 162 unit residential scheme consisting of a 26 storey private apartment tower and affordable housing building. The scheme also includes retail units and a community arts facility. 10 Brock Street is the larger of the office buildings and Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering, vertical transportation engineering, BREEAM duties and energy consultancy to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and an EPC B rating.
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.
‘The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has granted planning consent for 115,000 sq ft of new high-quality office space at 63-81 Pelham Street.’
The property situated on the A23 near Brighton was granted permission by the council under permitted development rights to change to a residential site from office development to provide 63 apartments. The apartments are separate over seven stories consisting of one, two and three bed apartments. The redeveloped to offer 59,000ft² of high quality residential accommodation, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering and energy consultancy to achieve an EPCs between B – C rating.
The Kodak building in Holborn has been designed to achieve high sustainability benchmarks with WELL ‘Gold’ and BREEAM ‘Excellent’.