An On the wire story
Property company Bridgemont has lodged plans to carry out a deep retrofit of 1 Embankment Place above Charing Cross Station in London. The scheme is intended to keep most of the Terry Farrell-designed building in place, preserving much of its structure and façade while recasting the property for a new era of office demand in central London.
The retrofit-led approach is being promoted as a significant carbon-saving exercise. Existing plant is set to be replaced by air source heat pumps in an all-electric heating and cooling system, with more than 180 photovoltaic panels planned for the roof. In 2015 the a combined heat, power and cooling system was installed that was partially run on used cooking oil.
The developer says operational energy use should fall sharply, while recycled and recovered materials would be used wherever practical in an effort to cut whole-life carbon. The project is also being targeted at strong environmental standards, with ambitions including EPC A and BREEAM Excellent, although other descriptions of the scheme have pointed to BREEAM Outstanding.
Hopkins Architects has reworked the former PricewaterhouseCoopers headquarters to provide 35,000 sq m of Grade A office space, alongside terraces, upgraded workplace facilities and a more generous range of amenities. According to the project team, the ground floor would be opened up with shops, cafés and restaurants, creating a livelier edge on to Villiers Street and strengthening connections between the West End and the South Bank.
Bridgemont said the project is one of Westminster’s largest retrofit-first commercial schemes. The wider team includes structural and civil engineer AKT II, MEP consultant Arup and cost consultant Turner & Townsend Alinea. Max Farrell, son of the building’s original architect Sir Terry Farrell, has also advised the team to ensure the redesign respects the spirit of the original work. Construction is expected to take 36 months and support more than 1,000 jobs.
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Inspired by headline at Construction Enquirer: [1]
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