SOUTHWARK BRIDGE
ROAD
Location: Southwark, London
Status: Tender
Architect: BGY
Client: Latium RE
Introduction
Southwark contains a rich and varied cultural offering, with the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, the London Dungeons and Borough Market to name but a few of the local attractions. At 550 keys this development will deliver the biggest hotel in SE1, able to expand the opportunities for tourists to experience the rich offering available.
Not only that, with a new cultural space and spa, swimming and gym facilities, the development will enhance the offer and the vibrancy of the area. The design was developed to meet the existing consented massing, which was for an office scheme. The floor to floor heights have been optimised, and downstand beams avoided, to ensure that the site realises its maximum potential.
History
Detailed historic maps reveal that the site was once integral to Southwark’s industrial and cultural heritage- housing, metal foundries, glassblowers, breweries and theatres.
Among these are the renowned Anchor Brewery, formerly the largest brewery in the world during the 19th Century. The Rose Theatre and Globe Theatre, both homes to the works of William Shakespeare were situated close to the site, with remains of the latter discovered across Southwark Bridge Road.
Previously referred to as Guildford Street, Southwark Bridge Road was formed by connecting a series of various smaller streets to provide access to the original Southwark Bridge to be used as the approach from the south. Southwark was a significant area during Roman Britain and there are records of original Roman roads and archaeological sites close to Southwark Bridge Road.
Structural Design Brief
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Reuse of the basement and foundations for larger, new-build structure.
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Lean concrete structure enables three additional floors within the consented volume on site.
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Feature Y shaped columns create efficient transfer structure between the hotel and amenity grids.
Solution
22-24 Southwark Bridge Road involves the redevelopment of two 8 storey 1980s offices into a new 17-storey hotel for Ako. Whilst the majority of the superstructure is to be demolished, the existing basement and piled foundations are to be re-used and supplemented only where necessary for the increase in loading across the site. An extensive pre-redevelopment options study demonstrated that the partial retention of the substructure leads to the lowest 'carbon per key' for the proposed hotel use of the site.
In addition, the existing core to the north is to be retained and strengthened, providing stability to the new building, whilst two further cores to the south of the site are being threaded through the retained lower levels. Due to the proximity of the river and the permeability of the river deposits the underlay the site, de-watering will be required to facilitate the new foundation installation.
A new cultural space at lower ground floor will provide art and music facilities to the local community and will have an exposed visual concrete finish, with the geometry designed to efficiently transfer load from the new hotel typology above to the existing office foundations under.
