Vantage London, formerly occupied by Wimpey Construction, is a 12 storey landmark building overlooking the A4 flyover leading from the M4 into West London.
Last refurbished in the late 1980s, the offices were in need of modernisation to deliver energy savings. Watkins Payne were commissioned to develop several designs with the design team to upgrade in an economic manner that would provide interest and enhance the letting strategies.
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.
The main entrance was completely refurbished with a new double height reception, and the ground floor was given greater visibility and user interest by adopting an exposed services solution separate from the upper floor office services strategy.
A gym, washrooms and shell restaurant were provided to serve the 115,000ft² of office accommodation.
The refurbishment was executed with partial tenant occupation, so communication and careful design and commissioning strategies were major considerations throughout the project.
Sustainability is incredibly important for the Client and as such the building is targeting BREEAM ‘Outstanding’, WELL ‘enabled’ Gold, alongside WiredScore Platinum. In addition, the Design for Performance approach is being adopted in order to minimise operational energy and hence carbon emissions.
BRIT Insurance took 5 floors of the Leadenhall building with views over Tower Bridge and the Thames. The 60,000ft² of high quality office accommodation was fitted out to Category B.
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 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 project also involved the refurbishment of the reception space and improvement of the cycle store entrance and wayfinding at basement level.
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.