The Ned

From historic bank to luxury destination.

We led the structural and civil engineering for the complex adaptive reuse of the former Midland Bank building into The Ned. A luxury hotel and members' club featuring 250 bedrooms, 9 restaurants, and extensive leisure facilities including a rooftop pool and spa complex.

The project takes an innovative approach to create additional floor space. Integrating a new 12-storey core and installing a rooftop swimming pool, all while working within the constraints of a heritage structure and the Northern Line below.

The design team was led by EPR Architects working alongside Soho House’s in-house design team. Gardiner and Theobald provided project management and cost consultancy.

Hotel & Leisure

Architect: EPR Architects
Client: Poultry Tenant Limited
Location: London, UK

Impact

Our structural design enabled the complex transformation of this vast heritage building into The Ned — a 250-room luxury hotel and members’ club with nine restaurants and extensive leisure facilities, including a rooftop pool and spa.

Working closely with EPR Architects, Soho House, and the wider consultant and contractor teams, we delivered new structural interventions with care and precision — all virtually invisible within the Grade I listed fabric.

The Northern Line Bank Station upgrade runs directly under the existing Lutyens’ building and the new core. To lessen the structural load, we designed a raft solution for the new hotel foundations. This required extensive consultation and approvals with both the Bank Station upgrade team and Transport for London.

We designed a whole new core extending over 12 storeys down to basement -3 level and strong enough to support the load of a new swimming pool at roof level, all within the constraints of a protected heritage frame.

Awards

2019 RIBA London Award
2019 RIBA London Project Architect of the Year Award
2017 AHEAD European Awards Winner - Hotel of the Year
2017 AHEAD European Awards Winner - Spa & Wellness
2017 IStructE Structural Award - Shortlisted

History

Built in the 1920s, the former Midland Bank building stands as one of Sir Edwin ‘Ned’ Lutyens' finest architectural achievements. The Grade I listed structure, with its distinctive early steel frame and stone façade, housed one of London's most prestigious banking halls.

After lying vacant for eight years, Soho House and Sydell Group acquired the building in 2012 with ambitions to create a unique hospitality venue. The transformation required sophisticated design and engineering to preserve historic listed features while enabling modern luxury amenities demanded by its new use.

The retained features range from the iconic bank vault door, made famous in the 1964 James Bond film, Goldfinger, complete with its 3000 safety deposit boxes to the 92 green verdite marble columns on the original banking floor.

Our Approach

Heritage, Luxuriously Reinvented

The main challenge was balancing the reuse of historic, listed building elements with the introduction of seamless new structures for its transformation into a luxury hospitality destination.

We introduced additional floors and engineered a new central core spanning 12 storeys, from roof level down to basement –3. This new core was designed to support significant new loads, including a rooftop swimming pool, without compromising the heritage fabric.

Unlocking the Structure

The existing steel frame was already a complex system, with many transfer structures supporting the upper-level frames at several locations.

To accommodate the increase in load in the new hotel, including the new core, we carried out detailed structural analysis. This enabled us to validate the new loading patterns for the new hotel and ensure it could safely carry the redistributed loads.

A Raft Solution

The Northern Line Bank Station upgrade runs directly under the historic Lutyens’ building and the new core. To lessen the structural impact on the infrastructure below, we designed a raft solution for the new hotel foundations.

This strategy required extensive consultation and approvals with both the Bank Station upgrade team and Transport for London.

Construction

Delivering this transformation required careful planning and close collaboration with the wider design team. Construction took place within a constrained city-centre site, over a live Underground line, and within a protected Grade I listed structure.

Our engineering strategy enabled significant additions — including a new 12-storey core and rooftop pool — to be integrated with minimal disruption to the historic fabric. Key challenges included navigating tight basement conditions, preserving key architectural elements in situ, and sequencing works to meet both heritage and infrastructure constraints.

The conversion of the bank’s original vault into a bar, necessitated the removal of an enormous volume of spiral steel reinforcements from the vault walls.