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.’
The Practice was responsible for designing the complete refurbishment of the mechanical, electrical and public health services to all of the guest rooms, together with the penthouse units in The Claridge’s Hotel.
The project also involved the refurbishment of the reception space and improvement of the cycle store entrance and wayfinding at basement level.
Building 600 located at Aztec West Business park in Bristol has been refurbished to offer 12,500ft² 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 ‘Excellent’ and EPC B rating.
Nash House is located on the corner of Maddox Street and St George Street in London and was constructed in 1980s. The site is right in front of the Garde I listed Church of St George and stone throw away from famous Handover Square. Currently ground floor is occupied by a retail tenant where the lower ground, 1st floor to 5th floor is office accommodation.
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.