GREAT PULTENEY ST
Location: Soho, London
Status: On Site
Architect: Morris+Company
Client: Global Holdings Management Group
Structure Brief
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Re-extension of an already extended frame.
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Replacement of rainscreen cladding with hand laid masonry.
Introduction
Previously a headquarters building for companies including Microsoft, Nokia and Boohoo, and located in the heart of Soho, this prime site was a blight on the street context. The historic concrete frames, dating from the early 1969’s were linked and extended in the ‘90’s. An orange brick, rainscreen cladding wrapped around the façade, in jarring contrast to the surrounding context.
Raised from the street level, the ground floor lacked appeal, and the brief from the client was the client was to give the building curb appeal, add mass and roof terrace space and re-dress the building, reflecting the context of this vibrant party of London.
Approach
The buildings history left us with a pastiche of structural systems- clay hollow pot floors, linked and extended with composite deck on steel frame and with areas of both ribbed and solid slabs at various points, reflecting some of the historic interventions. With no available record information we had to unpick the structural systems, identify the redundant elements that had been left in place when the building was re-worked in the 90’s and look for where the structure had residual capacity.
During the initial design development stages the building was fully let, creating restrictions on the design studies. The design and build tender was progressed in parallel with the strip out and structural investigations, requiring the team to be agile in how they responded to site findings and de-risked the design.
Solution
The design retains more than 85% of the existing structure, with localised areas of the roof structure being removed and localised demolition of the ground floor creating new access points. This principle has been fundamental to the design strategy’ The building extension has been designed as a steel frame with composite deck, to give a light weight, robust solution. Retained structure is being coated with a vermiculite spray to provide the uplift in fire performance required.
