NoMad London
The adaptive reuse of the historic Bow Street Magistrates’ Court and Police Station into NoMad London, a 91-key, five-star hotel and the first international outpost for The NoMad Hotel brand.
We engineered the transformation of these Grade II-listed buildings, sensitively adapting the existing fabric to meet the demands of a contemporary hospitality destination.
Within the existing courtyard, we designed an eight-storey reinforced concrete frame extension, which included a two-storey basement that necessitated complex underpinning of the existing structure. The new atrium restaurant — once a vehicle yard for defendants and police wagons — now forms a vibrant link between the restored courtrooms and new guest wings.
Once a fortified government building, NoMad London is now an open space that pays homage to its storied past.
- Architect
- EPR Architects
- Client
- Bow Street Hotels Ltd
- Location
- London, UK
History
Originally home to the Bow Street Runners, London's first professional police force, established in 1749 by Henry Fielding. Bow Street Magistrates’ Court went on to host some of the city’s most high-profile cases, including those of Oscar Wilde and the Kray twins.
Closed in 2006, the building’s condition deteriorated, and it was added to English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk Register. Numerous redevelopment attempts failed to reconcile the mismatched floor levels and disjointed structures of the adjoining court and police station.
Following the acquisition of the site by Bow Street Hotels Ltd in 2016, Elliott Wood joined the team to help unlock the potential of this historic landmark, providing the technical and creative expertise needed to restore and adapt the heritage buildings for a new use.
NoMad London
Our Approach
Extending Below and Beyond
To create the new central courtyard extension, we demolished the existing basement and ground floor structures up to the Crown Court façade and replaced them with an eight-storey reinforced concrete frame. The new extension includes a two-storey basement to house essential plant and back-of-house facilities, requiring underpinning of the existing structure.
The introduction of new rooftop steel extensions along the Bow Street and Broad Court elevations and a two-storey addition on Martlett Court further maximises space without compromising the historic envelope.
Space for Guest Experiences
Isolated alterations were made to the existing fabric to accommodate the proposed layout of the Hotel, while preserving the building’s character. The former courtroom now serves as an event space, the police cells are a public museum, and the glazed atrium restaurant sits proudly in the courtyard where police once processed arrivals.
Careful coordination between new and old ensured that original materials were retained and celebrated, with now hidden engineering interventions supporting modern services and high-performance standards of a 5* hotel.
Past Forward
Adaptive reuse demands both sensitivity and invention. The NoMad balances the grandeur of a historic civic landmark with the comfort and performance of a contemporary hotel. Our structural interventions were precisely targeted — removing what was necessary, reinforcing what could remain, and integrating new services within the existing framework.
NoMad London shows how engineering can go beyond preservation, reimagining familiar, but obsolete, structures to meet the shifting needs of a city.
