Engineering a new home for the London Irish Centre

The redevelopment of the London Irish Centre in Camden will create a more inclusive home for its expanding community and support programmes. Elliott Wood’s structural strategy is helping make that ambition possible across a constrained site: two mid-19th-century villas are being refurbished, a new four-storey building and basement are being built, and McNamara Hall is being reconstructed.

At McNamara Hall, the existing ground-floor slab and inverted T-beam raft foundation immediately above the live Network Rail tunnels are being retained. This avoids unnecessary intervention close to operational infrastructure. New columns follow the existing structural grid and load paths, while 15 m-span fabricated steel roof beams maximise headroom and support new plant, photovoltaic panels and blue-roof attenuation.

A cantilevered mezzanine, partly suspended from the roof, adds usable floor area while keeping the space below flexible and column-free for a major multipurpose performance venue.

Elsewhere, long-span transfer beams create a second column-free venue at basement level. Integrated steel frames, new beams and local underpinning allow the historic villas to be opened up and adapted while retaining as much original fabric as possible.

CGI images: Coffey Architects
Models: Elliott Wood