Portfolio

This prestigious commercial development will see a high-quality new build office constructed on the vacant site at 3 Ruskin Square, Croydon. The development will provide over 36,000 square meters of grade A office space, arranged over 15 floors above ground. The proposed building is square in plan with a uniform floor plate. Between the ground level and the first floor, an internal mezzanine level will unify with an exterior podium level. Rather than being hidden away, the structure is to be expressed as part of the architectural theme.

In conjunction with ShedKM architects, we have developed several structural options with an emphasis on sustainable forms of construction which act to minimise the embodied carbon of the structural frame. These options include a Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) ‘flat slab’ and a hybrid CLT and steel structure which are both demountable. In parallel with these, we have developed more traditional composite steel and concrete options that take advantage of economic bay sizes to realise carbon and cost savings.

3A Hampstead Lane involved the restoration of a 1960’s residential property, originally designed and built by well-known local architects, Stirling and Margaret Craig, in the Brutalist style.

The present owners have made sensitive alterations to create modern open plan kitchen, dining and lounge areas. The new steel frames that now support the first floor are exposed and careful refined detailing of the connections makes for a simple and elegant structure that compliments the original design style.

The building also benefited from the replacement of all glazing, including the glass prism that forms a double height space to the living area. The flat roofing has been modernised to incorporate a green roof and extensive landscaping has been carried out externally.

We provided structural and civil engineering and sustainability consultancy services for a project on 5 Strand, an iconic location that can be found in the heart of the Trafalgar Square Conservation Area.

We worked to convert an existing planning consent for an office redevelopment into a new application for a 690-key hotel in a condensed programme. Our involvement coupled with feedback from the planners has pushed the design team to go beyond brand standards to explore alternative material specifications and M&E systems. We are also the BREEAM assessors for the project, targeting BREEAM outstanding for this new Premier Inn hub which will be a flagship hotel for Whitbread.

The development is situated over numerous LUL tunnels including an escalator shaft. Key to the application’s success was getting LUL approval. The scheme is GLA referable which has involved early-stage carbon optioneering, and the submission of a Whole Lifecycle Carbon Assessment and Circular Economy Statement to GLA standards.

Suffering from an uninviting street presence and dark office spaces, our redevelopment of 7 Newgate Street has allowed this early 2000s central London office building to offer a bright, open frontage and façade, a new rooftop pavilion and high-quality office facilities.

The project involved the complete refurbishment and redevelopment of the existing 8-storey building — including a single-storey basement — and the construction of a new glazed roof pavilion with access to a communal, landscaped terrace providing unparalleled views of the local skyline.

‘The Newgate’ was designed to be low-carbon and energy-efficient from the outset, and the results demonstrate the value of retrofit over new build. Our structural and sustainability teams worked together to provide detailed carbon calculations for evaluating structural options. 

The estimated embodied carbon saving in the structure is approximately 5,800 tC02e, compared to the current industry average for commercial new builds.Set between St Paul’s Cathedral and The Old Bailey, the building’s new pavilion and landscaped terraces on the top floor offer unique views of several city landmarks. The new rooftop pavilion's lightweight hybrid timber and steel structure was carefully engineered to reduce the amount of strengthening works required for the structure below, reducing the embodied carbon footprint of the refurbishment.

We have been appointed by The Crown Estate to carry out the major refurbishment of 10 Piccadilly. The building is situated on Piccadilly Circus and forms part of John Nash’s Regent Street Quadrant.

The proposals will provide an exemplary building in The Crown Estate’s portfolio, with high sustainability credentials bringing the building into the 21st Century.
Much of our work will focus on the roof level to create a roof terrace and F+B offering on the upper floors which will be accessed via a sunken courtyard.

Within the building, new service cores and risers will be added to the centre of the floorplate and historic lightwells will be infilled to create more lettable areas. We are working closely with Piercy & Company to unpick the historic alterations which have been done on an ad-hoc basis by previous tenants. Now that the building as a whole is being refurbished, it has provided an opportunity to rationalise the building’s structure.

Image: The Sting, 1 Piccadilly by John Allan

Shortlisted for the 2019 BCO Awards and AJ Retrofit Awards, the initial concept for the remodelling of this 1970s building in Kensington was based on a stressed-skin panel design, spanning between primary beams.

The structural solution was developed into a full-width spanning bi-planar arch structure constructed with internally exposed GluLam primary and secondary beams, and CLT panels forming an exterior shell. Arranging the facets in this way meant the roof structure was independently stable, not requiring lateral restraint from the floor below. Due to height restrictions on the proposals, an origami roof solution was developed to maximise the volume of the new top storey. This was to be exposed internally, with integrated roof lights to maximise daylight into the floor plate. A timber shell structure was created to sit on top of the existing building.

The new building was designed to be an ultra-modern, high-spec office space. New services were required and the façade was designed to have integrated risers to limit impact on floor area. The front façade was replaced with a contemporary masonry façade with a steel frame behind to reinstate stability and vertical load transfer. A new atrium was created through the existing floor plates which required a feature stair that also supported the upper floors to allow removal of existing columns.

The works on this private house in North London included the refurbishment of an existing Victorian building and the construction of a striking new extension.

The refurbishment of the original building blends contemporary design with the original ‘arts and crafts’ style, an influential movement of the late 19th century which attempted to re-establish the skills of craftsmanship threatened by mass production and industrialisation.

The new extension uses an innovative stressed skin steel roof to achieve cantilevers up to 9m with a depth of only 300mm. This created enough stiffness to allow all support to be from internal columns, giving the structure free and fully glazed façades.

Images: Lyndon Douglas

At 24 King William Street, we transformed an under-utilised 1980s steel-framed office building into a modern mixed-use space that responds to the urban and historical context.

The refurbishment included a new three-storey mansard as well as a brand-new façade and interior, opening up the ground-level retail space. The new upper storeys include two additional office floors and an open plant deck, adding substantial square footage to the site.

Rather than entire structural systems, we targeted surveys and focused strengthening works on key components. This allowed us to demonstrate that the additional floors could be accommodated onto the existing structure without costly strengthening works to the existing frames or foundation. This also allowed us to maintain occupied rental units on the lower floors.

This approach minimised embodied carbon and limited the additional steelwork strengthening, which in some areas consisted of simple bolt upgrades. While respecting the heritage of the immediate context and protected views along the historic London Bridge area, the project has reinvented 24 King William Street for 21st-century tenants.

Images: Nicholas Worley

We are working with EPR to refurbish the 1920s office building and associated curtilage buildings, from an office to a 5-star hotel.

55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building, located above St James Underground Station, Westminster. The building was originally designed by Charles Holden and constructed as the new headquarters for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), the main forerunner of the London Underground. Upon completion, it was London’s first skyscraper and the tallest office block in the city.

This project is an example of where we can provide our clients with key early advice about the flexibility of buildings and give them the commercial advantage and the confidence to purchase buildings on the competitive open market.

This project received planning permission from a unanimous committee in June 2020.

Our early involvement was required to convert 85 Gray’s Inn Road from a 1990s office building to a modern life sciences hub in the central London district of Bloomsbury. Our experience of retrofitting existing structures for enhanced uses combined with our holistic approach to dynamic analysis of the existing construction helped our client limit costs.

In the early stages, we were able to illustrate where the existing structure was suitable for sensitive equipment and where it could be easily adapted for more significant M&E services. With our input, the test layout floor schemes were driven by limiting structural enhancement and working with the existing building form leading to an agreed and understood middle ground on adaptability of the space, and project cost.

Winner of the 2009 RIBA Award for the London Building of the Year, the contemporary design allows occupants an unobstructed view over the neighbouring Highgate Cemetery.

The building’s reinforced concrete structure enables the floor plates to cantilever four meters outwards from the central structures. This design keeps the rear elevation clear of any supporting structure, making it possible to have a fully glazed rear façade. The façade’s clean appearance is further enhanced by the meticulous detailing of the concealed junction between the glass, soffits and floor plates.

Inside the reinforced concrete structure is an integral feature of the minimalist interior. Careful detailing allows the building’s services to be hidden within the walls and floor. A large glazed roof light adds to the building’s transparency, designed to slide onto the roof and open the interior to the outside.

This project involved the comprehensive refurbishment and extension of a 1980s office building. Located on the southern side of Cannon Street, close to the Circle, District, and Northern lines, the building is clad in stone and glass with a steel frame.

We collaborated with Morrow & Lorraine Architects and GVA Second London Wall to redesign the space and add more storeys. The main challenges included justifying the extra loads on the foundations and strengthening the existing steel portal frames to withstand the increased wind load on the building.

We resolved the many technical challenges this scheme presented through rigorous analysis of the existing structure. Minimising the structural interventions required to accommodate additional floors and alterations to the elevations.

The proposed development at 180 Piccadilly and 48-50 Jermyn Street involves the demolition of two existing buildings on site. The scheme achieved planning in early 2021 based on a steel frame structure with composite slabs. We are redesigning the steel frame using around 500 tonnes of existing steelwork that has been salvaged from a demolition site in the City of London.

We helped facilitate the reclamation of approximately 1,700 tonnes of the 1990s steelwork for GPE to reuse it in their development projects. This industry-leading work is proving the process of reusing steelwork at scale, and to our knowledge is the largest steel reuse project in the UK.

We are also appointed as BREEAM AP and WELL AP to ensure the project achieves the client’s sustainability targets. A key consideration has been ensuring the specific requirements of BREEAM and WELL are aligned with the client’s ESG targets and the requirements of NABERS Design for Performance. In particular, the WELL requirements for air filtration and thermal comfort have had to be carefully considered against the scheme’s predicted energy consumption, to avoid compromising the NABERS rating.

This impressive 420,000 sqft new development at the centre of City Road offers a mix of office, PRS residential, amenity and commercial space. We were appointed from the early feasibility stage to develop the structural solution that realises the full potential of the bomb-damaged former hospital site.

The design, which received planning permission in 2016, includes a 22-storey tower above a seven-storey office floor plate. Active constraints include the Northern line underground tunnels within the adjoining City Road and the seven-storey office building directly adjacent to the site.

We are working with shedkm to deliver the gateway residential development adjacent to the new Cross Rail station at Abbey Place.

The development comprises a 22-storey and 12-storey residential tower with retail units at ground floor and tree-covered rooftop amenity spaces. The site and development have presented several challenges in providing the necessary density of accommodation whilst minimising the size of the cores and core wall thickness on a tight marshland site.

The development incorporates Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) which includes green roofs and below ground geocellular attenuation. This significantly reduces surface water run-off from the development site and provides local amenity and biodiversity benefits.

A 3D printed model was ‘grown’ at an early stage, and a wind tunnel assessment was carried out at the Building Research Establishment to inform the necessary mitigation measures across the site to ensure pedestrian comfort was met.

Established in 1989, the Alder Centre in Liverpool provides counselling and support services for anyone affected by the loss of a child. The centre is unique within the NHS and serves hundreds of families throughout the country. For the new building, we worked closely with architects AHMM and the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital to develop a private, comforting and modern facility.

Conversations with the centre’s counsellors, users and bereaved parents were a key influence on the design of the £2.1 million building, which consists of a series of rooms configured like a large house. The building is arranged around a large lounge and kitchen area — the ‘heart space’ — from which seven counselling rooms lead, each with its private garden. There is a flexible training room, office and dedicated space for volunteers.
The project was of special importance to AHMM, who have close links with Liverpool, and to the whole team for its social benefit. Elliott Wood fundraised collectively with the consultants and completed the project at cost.

The new Alder Centre was opened in September 2021 by Emma Weaver, who used the organisation’s services when she lost her infant daughter in 2014. She said, “The Alder Centre played a huge part in helping us come to terms with our grief and heartache in the early days after Georgie died.” The building was awarded overall winner at the 2021 European Healthcare Design Awards.

We provided structural and civil engineering design input for the ambitious and striking swimming pool design by Duggan Morris Architects for Alfriston School.

A state-funded day and boarding school for girls, Alfriston caters for pupils with a wide range of special educational needs and disabilities between the ages of 11 and 18. In 2009, it was transformed into a sports college. To reflect this, the existing sports facilities were consolidated into a fully integrated sports department defined by a single block. Part of this consolidation was the replacement of the derelict swimming pool.

The completed building’s simple and beautiful form was created from a series of repeating triangular panels raised above the ground to allow views out and glimpses in. The roof is constructed almost wholly from timber and sits on steel piloti above a reinforced concrete sub-structure. We collaborated with Duggan Morris Architects and M&E engineers, Skelly and Couch, to complete this highly complex and commended building that serves students, staff and the general public.

Images: DMA, Jack Hobhouse

As part of the Arcadia Group’s refurbishment of their London Oxford Street offices, we are advising on the alterations to the original 1920s structural steel frame.

Challenges include the fact that the building underwent a major refurbishment in 1985, where much of the spare capacity in the original structure was exploited at this time. Additionally, the Plaza Shopping Centre occupies the first two storeys and basement, which prevents any potential strengthening works to the lower levels. 

We applied our understanding of the building’s history — obtained by inspecting the building and analysing archival records — to justify the introduction of over 420 m2 of additional floor space. The majority of this additional space is provided by projecting the floors into the two existing four-storey deep internal courtyards. These have been covered by a new glazed grid shell roof.

Our 3D Revit model of the structure forms the basis of the team’s Building Information Model (BIM) and is used to coordinate with the other disciplines in the design team.

Belle Vue is a RIBA Award-winning senior living development in Hampstead that shifts the retirement home paradigm.

The £30m scheme is defined by four interlocking blocks that vary in height, up to a maximum of ten storeys, with a beautiful, subtly variating bevelled brick façade with inset balconies. Residents of the 59 apartments have access to a swimming pool, spa, gym, residents’ lounge, library and garden, as well as a public restaurant and café.

The area had been bombed during the war, which meant there could be unexploded ordnance on site. Using bomb maps and eyewitness records, excavation was undertaken with the utmost care, first probing the ground before piling. Once excavation was underway, an ancient well was discovered, for which we devised a new foundation solution which involved a system of cantilevers that eliminated any load onto the structure.

We incorporated a car-stacking system in the basement, which required a double-height space and significantly impacted the design. We needed to understand the weight distribution of the equipment early on in the design process, which led to us implementing contiguous piles around the perimeter. Our designs also responded to Camden Council’s stringent requirements for basement impact assessments.

Our civil engineering team designed a new drainage network to redirect the drainage for the adjacent school building, which previously ran through the site. The works minimised disruption to the school, which is used year-round.

The Schroder & Berners-Allsopp Estate development in Fitzrovia has created 75,000 sq ft of office and retail space, featuring an exposed concrete frame.⠀
⠀
Bridging across two urban blocks, the development includes significant improvements to the public realm. Creating a vibrant curved public realm on Wells Mews.⠀

Berners & Wells, a mixed-use development in the heart of Fitzrovia. Designed by Emrys Architects for clients Schroders and Berners Allsopp Estate, the RC frame building offers 80,000 sq ft of office and retail space.

Our engineers reduced the temporary works against the party walls and designed a raft foundation to accommodate the Royal Mail tunnel that runs beneath the site. The building spans over the road to the curved Wells Mews, creating a vibrant and inviting public realm.

This project required a sensitive response to a rural landscape environment and the end user. These requirements included a clear and unimpeded movement of visitors from arrival to departure; uplifting yet dignified spaces for the mourning party; landscape and commemoration that provide a space for memory and evocation; and form and material use that provides reassurance and solace.

The relationship between the building and its context is reinforced by the undulating roofscapes, with their sedum coverings, and the use of natural materials in both the structure and cladding.
To aid the mourners’ grieving process, the chapel space features a large, glazed window with views to a formal garden with a reflection pool and the surrounding pastoral landscape. This relationship with the landscape is consolidated by the sheltered waiting areas at the entrance and in the cloistered route from the chapel to the floral tribute area.

Our delivery of a new £27 million Conference Centre in Blackpool’s historic Winter Gardens is a key part of the local council’s investment and regeneration strategy.

The new steel-framed conference centre provides the capacity to stage major conferences catering to up to 7,000 delegates. New, state-of-the-art facilities include an environmentally controlled exhibition space and an atrium reception and entrance to the Winter Gardens.

The contemporary building has been designed as a landmark to complement the Victorian heritage of the adjacent, listed Winter Gardens ballroom and Opera House. Introduced part-way through the traditional design phases, we reduced the overall steel frame weight by 40 tonnes.

We also developed an intricate sequence of works which respects the adjacent listed structures and maintained a full art and performance programme throughout construction.

Providing around 320 new homes, this project includes the demolition of existing residential and mixed-use buildings and the construction of multi-storey apartment buildings and terraced houses.

The site is divided into three zones: Moselle to the North, Northolt in the centre and Tangmere in the South. The main constraint is from the River Moselle which runs through a 1960s concrete culvert approximately 5 to 6m wide and 2m high, just below the surface of the ground. Initial contact with the Environment Agency has concluded that it will not be possible to build over the culvert.

We have considered layout scenarios to develop initial proposals for the superstructure and substructure of the new buildings. Reuse of the existing under-reamed piled foundations has been explored. These existing foundations will create obstructions in the ground beneath the new buildings. It is proposed to incorporate the existing piles into the new foundation scheme to minimise material usage.

We were appointed by Artangel to provide engineering back-up to Antony Gormley’s 25m sacrificial sculpture, Burning Man. The sculpture was burned as part of the live event, The Margate Exodus.

Constructed entirely of waste materials, including planks of wood, tables, chairs, keyboards, paintings, dartboards, doors and toilet seats, this sculpture took over four weeks to construct. All materials had to be certified as environmentally suitable to be burnt, meaning all paints and coatings had to be removed before construction.

The primary structure consisted of two large steel I sections, extending 14m above ground and 10m into the ground. A timber frame was constructed around the steelwork and platforms created at regular centres to define the shape of the body at each level. Waste matter was then loaded onto the platforms to create the body shape. The arms and head of the sculpture were articulated to provide a dramatic sequence of collapse during burning.

Creating prayer and reflection space — a historic Jewish Cemetery extension. Bushey Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery, located on a 16-acre site of outstanding natural beauty in London’s Green Belt. The simple yet striking extension comprises two new prayer halls, a series of service buildings and increased burial site capacity from 43,000 to 60,000 graves.

The Jewish faith has a tenant that burial places are looked after in perpetuity; forever. The Bushey Cemetery extension provides new capacity and is the first new consecration of a United Synagogue burial site in the UK in 50 years. The project was delivered in two phases. The initial enabling works saw the installation of major civil engineering and landscaping works, including swales, weirs and ponds. This helps maintain natural drainage on-site and provides new wildlife habitats. The prayer halls and associated buildings formed phase two.

We worked with Waugh Thistleton Architects and landscape architects J and L Gibbons to deliver the extension that will continue serving London and Hertfordshire communities for the next 50 years. Our civil and structural engineers worked with Earth Structures, an Australian rammed earth construction specialist firm, to construct the seven-metre-high ceremonial walls.

Our fifth collaboration with NEON - Born to be Wild - is a site-specific public artwork in Northfleet. The playful artwork invites the public to explore and interact with the geometric sculpture.⠀

More than meets the eye, the artwork is installed above the buried remains of a 19th century bear pit, once a focal attraction of the Victorian gardens. Uncovered during archaeological excavations, NEON used the archaeological drawing lines to define the shape of the sculpture.⠀
⠀
We applied first principles to analyse and justify the stainless steel structure and strategically position footings to preserve the integrity of the historic bear structure hidden below. Working closely with manufacturers SteelLine, we fine-tuned connection details and subtle connections to foundations, creating the illusion of the artwork floating just above ground.

By adding leisure, culture, and educational spaces to a constrained infill site, the redevelopment of Boundary House creates new social opportunities in the Fenchurch Street area. The building will nearly double in size, from 8 to 15 and create 11,221 sqm of floor space for a 311-room hotel for the Ploberger Hotel Group.

We explored multiple options to retain as much of the existing building as possible. The 1950s reinforced concrete frame was in poor structural condition, with carbonation and reinforcement cover issues. Shallow floor-to-ceiling heights with only 2.2 metres of headroom below the numerous downstand beams would have required significant column removal to create the hotel’s room layout and ensure the curvature of the façade aligned with the street.

Structural investigations showed that the existing core was inadequate for additional wind load and increased vertical transport requirements. This meant we needed to balance elements of reuse with creating a new core.

The basement and ground structure have been retained and the new superstructure frame in steel has demountable metal deck composite floors to allow the frame to be deconstructed and optimised for reuse of materials. While the existing superstructure was no longer fit for reuse in situ, the aspiration is to apply circular economy principles as far as possible, including the use of second-hand steel for parts of the frame, to reduce embodied carbon.

The proposed greening strategy will also see 45 trees planted at roof level and includes green and blue roofs, targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating.

Cannon Place is a distinctive air-rights building located directly above London’s Cannon Street mainline and underground stations. Eight storeys high, the building has large floor plates of almost 50,000 square feet. The building is also virtually column-free with long-span, 21.5m long floor beams and a distinctive external structural skeleton.

CMS Cameron Mckenna acquired three levels of floor for their new London HQ. The works involved a full CAT B fit out including two large feature staircases linking the three-floor plates. The ‘scissor’ staircases were made more challenging due to the complex structure they took support from. A detailed REVIT model was developed to facilitate the process and allow full services integration to be explored before commencing on-site.

Construction access was particularly challenging because there was no provision for large items to be delivered to the building. We developed a gantry-type solution with Network Rail, the building owners and City of London. Site works were complex due to the poor access from the railway station and occupied floors immediately below.

Carpenters Estate is a 23-acre site next to Stratford Station, adjacent to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The proposed masterplan of Carpenters Estate will be one of London's largest estate regeneration programmes. The project will deliver over 2,000 new homes — with at least 50% at social rent levels — alongside new retail and commercial uses. We are advising on sustainability, including guiding the overall design, maximising high-grade reuse and recycling opportunities, and setting targets for waste management.

We completed pre-redevelopment audits across the estate, surveying 50 buildings to identify which ones could be retained, and what materials could be reused from those requiring demolition. The findings supported the outline planning application and, in addition to two tower blocks already earmarked for retention, James Riley Point and Lund Point, helped increase the total number of retained buildings in the masterplan.

Identifying materials for reuse is key to achieving the project’s circular economy objectives and we’ve set waste management targets in line with the London Plan, which requires 95% of waste materials to be reused or recycled.

The revitalised Carpenters Estate will offer much-needed new and modern homes at genuinely affordable rates. Developed through a process of extensive community consultation and co-design, proposals include 28,000m² of commercial space for cafés, restaurants, shops, workshop space, a hotel, and a newly refurbished Building Crafts College.

Situated on a 13ha site, the scheme includes a new 12,000m² educational and community facility and 2500m² sports hall. The new buildings are surrounded by new car parking facilities, landscaped areas and playing fields.

The main teaching building is a two-storey post-tensioned concrete frame with teaching and community support facilities, theatre space, art gallery and dining area. This form of construction was selected to provide an economically robust structure with future flexibility.

The largely exposed concrete structure provides high thermal mass to assist the environmental strategy for the building. The sports hall is a double-height, steel-framed structure comprised of a column-free sports area and a two-storey dance and fitness suite.

The development also incorporates various sustainability techniques, including natural ventilation, rainwater harvesting, and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS).

We are structural engineers for the new world-class facilities of the expanded Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. We are working with PM Devereux Architects on behalf of Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust to deliver this prestigious and much-needed scheme.

The new extensions to the existing wards will be constructed as additional steel-framed storeys above the front of the building on Fulham Road. The new wards’ facades have been detailed with large, glazed elevations to maximise light ingress and to provide views over London from the new hospital level.

The design has required a full assessment of the load capacity and stability system of the structural elements which support the new extensions. The structural detailing and the logistics of the site works have been carefully developed to minimise the impact and disruption on the public, existing ambulance routes and operational wards in the vicinity of the new extensions.

The citizenM London Shoreditch Hotel is a mixed-use development off Shoreditch High Street.

The scheme includes the ten-story citizenM hotel, ground floor commercial units, and a seven-story residential block. The hotel is formed of prefabricated steel pods, manufactured, and delivered to the site with windows and internal fittings pre-installed.

The pods sit atop a steel transfer frame which spans the width of the building and supports a hung steel mezzanine housing the hotel bar and club lounge. Fabricated outrigger steel columns complete what is an elegant solution to a constrained site. Sitting directly adjacent to the existing London Overground viaduct, careful monitoring was required during the construction works. Below ground created further challenges, with a medieval burial ground requiring an archaeological dig to be undertaken to preserve and remove significant finds.

This project is a new build commercial and retail development that replaces three tired 1940s and 1960s buildings that were unsuitable for refurbishment due to compromised headroom and numerous internal columns. The new development provides approximately 85,000 sqft of commercial office and 20,000 sqft of retail space.

A concrete frame was selected as part of a holistic solution which integrated the needs of the design team whilst maximising construction efficiency. The visual qualities of exposed, fair-faced concrete were embraced by the architect and this is evident in the exposed concrete columns and a bespoke coffered slab in the reception area. Post-tensioned slabs have been adopted on a 9 by 9m grid at a thickness of 250mm with thickened slabs at the upper levels to accommodate transfers.

A central reinforced concrete core provides circulation and all lateral stability. The need for piling was removed by carrying out a detailed assessment of the ground conditions, together with considerable ground modelling to allow a raft to be adopted. This has led to a reduced programme for the foundation works and significant savings against the piled option.

We are providing structural and civil engineering services for the proposed conversion of the Grade I listed Custom House into a luxury hotel. The building's historic importance demands that alterations to the listed fabric are sensitive and agreed with Historic England.

The proposal to install an additional two stories above requires justification of the redundant capacity in the masonry walls of the existing building. For the East Wing, which was rebuilt following WW2 bomb damage, our proposal includes a façade retention with a new internal frame which better uses the footprint of the building and provides additional space for hotel rooms and amenities.

Sitting on the north shore of the Thames, the building lies in an active floodplain. This requires us to carefully manage agreements with the Environment Agency, Port of London Authority and the Marine Management Organisation.

We are providing civil and structural design for two plots within the Gascoigne East estate in Barking. The estate is undergoing a major redevelopment, replacing aged housing stock with over 1000 brand new homes for current residents as well as new social housing, affordable housing and private rent apartments.

Phase 3A of the development consists of two fully residential plots and a public park, joined by a link road within the estate. We worked with Pitman Tozer to develop a structurally efficient scheme, avoiding transfer structures and providing good value to the client. The efficiency in the building form allowed us to develop a panellised scheme as well as a traditional reinforced concrete scheme.

We worked with the main contractor to ensure the final detailed design maximised practicality, sustainability and value, while incorporating elements of MMC. One of the residential plots was in a high-risk flood zone. We coordinated with the Environment Agency before planning to understand the local flood levels, ensuring these could be incorporated into the design of the buildings.

To restrict surface water run-off rates to a minimum, we worked closely with the landscape architects to incorporate SuDS techniques along the road as well as a large swale within the park. This significantly reduced the amount of below-ground attenuation required throughout the development.

The Croquet Pavilion at Glyndebourne Opera House is a sustainable architecture project that utilises materials sourced within a 50-mile radius of the site. The design team includes Elliott Wood, Baker Brown Architects, Biohm, Local Works Studio, and Braden Timber Structures.

The pavilion's construction uses innovative materials such as structural glulam from ash trees on the estate, cladding from discarded champagne corks, mycelium insulation grown on-site, and wall tiles made from waste glass and lobster shells. The design also minimises concrete usage by 75% with trenches filled with compacted construction waste.

Designed for demountability and material reuse, the team is exploring the development of material passports for the reuse of structural elements. The pavilion will provide dining space and a croquet pitch to visitors of the opera house, supporting the cultural institution and promoting sustainability.

Lying on the north bank of the River Thames, Fulham Palace is in southwest London. The site is of national importance. Until the late 20th century, it served as the London residence of the Bishop of London.

The building is Grade I listed and set within gardens which are Grade II*, a noted historic landscape and Scheduled Ancient Monument. The site has been developed by various bishops over the centuries and consists of a Tudor Quadrangle to the west and a later Quadrangle to the east. There are several 19th-century additions and alterations, including a chapel to the south. Fulham Palace is currently used as a visitors' centre with part of the building being tenanted office space.

The project is Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) and proposals include the restoration of the historic structure and refurbishment of the visitors' centre and office spaces. It is proposed to create new exhibition spaces as part of the visitor experience and improve access throughout the site.

When Hawkins\Brown Architects proposed to radically redevelop this unloved concrete frame in Woking into one of the town’s most forward-thinking office buildings, we were on board.

Our design inserts an adaptable timber and steel grid into the existing atrium, inviting co-workers to meet and collaborate. It also encourages using the stairs to reach the upper floors rather than waiting for the lift.

We have maximised the client’s asset by converting the fourth-floor plant spaces to new office areas. The ground floor slab was lowered, improving access and visibility by turning the entrance to face the rest of the town off Yorkshire Way.

A lightweight steel and CLT frame was used. This allows fitting an adaptable grid which has flexibility for future dismantling and redevelopment whilst also taking care not to add significant pressure to the existing foundations. A key constraint of the project has been investigating the existing building and identifying the risks associated with adding loads to the existing structure.

The redevelopment revitalised the core estate of the Mercers’ livery company. Located near Bank in the historic City of London, the site presented challenging development constraints including access via a narrow medieval alley, numerous neighbouring buildings, and potential medieval and Roman archaeology.

The two buildings that occupied the site were demolished to make way for high-grade commercial office space. The new building features distinctive façades which aim to work sympathetically with the surrounding buildings.

We worked closely with Stanton Williams to progress the detailed design of the new structure. The scheme will lower of the existing basement to form a new raft foundation slab. Targeted site investigations have plotted existing foundation levels along the boundary and informed a scheme which minuses the need for underpinning. On the ground floor, the building is bisected by a new public thoroughfare which will improve pedestrian permeability. Large column spacing has been achieved using steel framing and concrete slabs to provide five stories of flexible, Grade A office space above ground.

Glade is a kinetic sculpture designed for the atrium of East Lothian Community Hospital.

The NEON-designed piece is inspired by the feeling of being within an opening of a forest. The artwork uses thousands of translucent discs which gently rotate when the air moves.

Installed to reduce patient anxiety while waiting for appointments, Glade scooped up an award at the Building Better Healthcare Awards in 2023. Judges commended the positive impact on patients and staff at East Lothian Community Hospital since its installation.

Susan Grant, manager at NHS Lothian's charitable wing Tonic Arts, said: “Awards like these help to shine a light on the importance of well-crafted art, craft and creativity in our healthcare environments; improving a person’s sense of value, engagement with treatment, speed of recovery and their overall healthcare experience.”

Our client, a private property owner, wanted to create a showpiece office space to attract new business opportunities. The proposal was to replace the original mishmash of single-storey extensions to the rear of their 5-storey Grade II listed Georgian Terrace property into a high-quality, open-plan working space with a sculptural roof form.

The work included excavating the lower ground floor to create additional headroom whilst retaining a listed masonry vault. The landlocked site is surrounded by similar buildings, with land access only possible through buildings. Delivery of large elements would require the use of large cranes and road closures. This heavily influenced the choice of structural solution.
The form of the roof required us to produce physical models to understand its structural behaviour. From these preliminary models, it became clear that the panels, which formed both ridges and valleys, would be structurally stable provided the perimeter nodes were horizontally restrained. This would mean the nodes could not move vertically.

The result was a system of panels that transferred load in bending but were effectively propped off each other. The structural solution was timber stress skin roof panels fabricated on-site with no structural steelwork. This allowed us to avoid craneage.

On the proposed site for the Grenadier House development is an existing office building of five storeys plus a basement.

The site is located in Westminster close to the River Thames and is in flood zone 3 defended.

The proposals include the demolition of the existing building and the redevelopment of the site to create a new residential housing scheme. It will comprise of two residential buildings of six storeys, with self-contained residences above a ground floor level of communal areas and a central shared garden. There will also be a basement level housing a car park.

Deep piles are considered the most appropriate foundation solution due to the high loads from the proposed building and the significant thickness of made ground. The superstructure will be formed of reinforced concrete flat slabs supported on core walls and columns.

Images: Forbes Massie

Grønlikaia is a major, new waterfront transformation project in the heart of Oslo, Norway. As one of the last waterfront sites in the city, it is an opportunity to create an inclusive and diverse “fjord city”, aimed at a wide variety of Oslo’s population, including the underserved communities of the eastern parts of the city.

Londonon gathered a team of experts in sustainability, placemaking, new forms of living, circular and doughnut economy, landscape design, and waterfront development. The exemplary project is making the water more accessible and creating new public spaces, cultural institutions, active streetscapes, and exceptional architecture.

The proposal will accommodate all the inhabitants of the site, both above and below the water. It uses upcycled marine steel to create a low-carbon quay-front and new habitats for fish, which will help to maintain existing marine and land-based natural resources as a central tenet of the development. All new buildings are designed to create better ecological conditions, contributing to the much-needed restoration of marine life in the Oslo fjord.

The original 1965 Guildford Crematorium building has been rebuilt to respond to modern funeral, memorial and mechanical practices.

The unusual geometric form of the chapel roof was facilitated by providing a series of parametrically generated fanning struts within the roof volume. This ensured that the glulam timber roof elements were kept slender whilst creating additional architectural interest.

The exposed concrete columns around the remembrance court and reflective pool were cast offsite as a cost-effective way to ensure a high-quality finish. The scheme also uses exposed concrete soffits and masonry internally to provide thermal mass to reduce heating loads. Additional heating is provided via heat recovery directly from the cremator.

As part of the SuDS strategy, access roads across the site drain to shallow swales and gravel trenches, providing flood, landscape and wildlife benefits. The new visitor’s car park incorporates a permeable paving system, which both attenuates surface water and improves water quality via the removal of hydrocarbons.

These SuDS features are interlinked to ensure the system is hydraulically optimised, discharging surface water at a heavily restricted rate to a neighbouring stream. This helps reduce the load on the local sewer network and will reduce the overall risk of flooding both on-site and within the local area.

This project retained the Charles Holden façade on this prominent Oxford Street location dating back to 1910.

Seven storeys of new, efficient structure will be constructed above ground behind with a new landmark façade on Oxford Street. Post tensioned slabs will be used to maximise the column grid and to maintain an overall building height below a protected sightline threshold.

We have been instrumental in achieving a vast increase in net lettable area by working closely with various third parties. This allowed us to justify a landmark basement dig within the constraints of an existing Royal Mail tunnel, two LUL Central line tunnels, a Thames Water sewer and the protection zone for the proposed Cross Rail 2 route. Three levels of basements below the existing basement are to be constructed within a secant piled retaining wall inset from the existing façade.

Both the Central line and the Mail Rail tunnel run directly below the site. Ground movement assessments tailored to the phase of the project have been undertaken to identify tunnel movement and lining stress increases.

The Horniman Museum wanted to create a better link between the museum and its surrounding gardens. The project involved the design of a new pavilion building along with the restoration and refurbishment of the Grade II listed Bandstand and Dutch Barn.

The pavilion’s basic structure is timber framed and built off a piled reinforced concrete floor. Glazed sides help integrate the gardens with the exhibits showcased inside.

A new teaching and exhibition room has been created along with associated amenities, such as toilets and kitchen facilities. The site presented a geotechnical challenge with desiccated clay subsoil, mature trees and steep slopes. The renovation of the bandstand required a sympathetic approach with traditional repair techniques adopted for the timber works. The original weather vane was preserved and the base was reforged.

The Hoxton Cinema project is a highly sustainable multi-use development set within a vibrant East London setting.

Cross-laminated timber was used to build the majority of the superstructure, creating spacious and high-quality residential apartments whilst offering efficient and environmentally friendly site construction.

Using reinforced concrete transfer structures, we overcame the challenges of the different layouts between the ground floor and basement cinema spaces and the residential apartments above.

Careful reconstruction and restoration of the original Art Deco façade has maintained the legacy of a much-loved historic building for future generations to enjoy.

To create a modern facility on the site of an existing 1970s health centre, this project involved a newly built health centre for Camden and Islington Primary Care Trust. Together with architects, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, we were awarded this project following a RIBA-sponsored competition in 2002.

The new three-storey building was constructed in reinforced concrete up to the second-floor level and a steel frame was used to form the roof. A reinforced concrete basement also provided a storage area for archiving. The first floor had cantilevers beyond the ground floor by up to 4m. An arrangement of deep beams around the perimeter of the building was used to deal with these cantilevers. The second-floor slab was designed as a transfer structure to support the columns of the steel roof above which did not align in many instances with the structure below. Stability was achieved through concrete cores and shear walls.

The building is founded on piles to deal with the high column loads and the potential movement of the clay soil, caused by numerous trees on the site which had caused significant structural cracking to the previous building that occupied the site.

The Department of Engineering at King’s College London is growing and needed new space for its diverse teaching, learning and research activities. Our ambitious conversion in 2022 of a semi-derelict two-storey basement and unloved quadrangle between the Grade I-listed Somerset House and King's Building has created vibrant new accommodation for the department and a social heart for the central London campus.

We explored the viability of retaining the neglected structure through targeted investigations. These included thermographic surveys of the structure, to quantify the impact of water ingress on the structural frame. Our detailed back-analysis confirmed the structure’s residual capacity was more than capable of the proposed use, allowing the space to be retained and adapted for future use. 

We devised a strategic approach to working on an active central London campus, implementing a rigorous monitoring regime during enabling works to quantify disruption to campus life. This data-driven approach minimised disturbances and allowed the department to continue to operate throughout building works. The benefits of retention over demolition on an operational urban campus go beyond carbon. Less demolition meant reduced dust, improved air quality and fewer vehicle movements. Most importantly, our approach minimised disruption to campus life.

Winner of the 2019 RIBA National award, Kettle’s Yard is home to a remarkable collection of modern art and a gallery for contemporary art exhibitions. It is a beloved Cambridge institution located near the city’s historic centre. 

The design gently updates the original cottage houses, and the 1970s extension was partly demolished and rebuilt. New spaces include a street-side entrance, two spacious double-height galleries, a window display area, an education wing, a shop and a cafe. We worked closely with Jamie Fobert Architects (JFA) and the main contractor SDC to design and sequence this complex and highly sensitive gallery refurbishment project to preserve and extend the life of the gallery.

The masterplan proposal for Bergen’s waterfront was designed in conjunction with the Londonon Collective, which includes Haptic Architects, Gort Scott, Morris + Company, Turner Works, Urban Systems Design and Vill. It was awarded first place in the international design competition for the redevelopment of the Laksevåg district.

The submission focused on the re-use and re-modelling of the existing buildings to create a new creative centre for the maritime industry in Bergen and pedestrian bridge links across the water.

Our review of the available archive information and local geological conditions aided the design team in assessing the feasibility of extending and altering the existing buildings on site, which shaped the overall masterplan proposal.

The project was selected as the overall winner of the Architectural Review’s Future Projects Award 2022. We are currently working with the municipality and stakeholders on strategies to realise this vision in the long term.

We were appointed to provide design services for Greece's sculpture installation at the London Biennale in 2018. Located in the courtyard of Somerset House, the exhibit explores the theme of the emotional state of ΑΝΥΠΑΚΟΗ (disobedience).

In the spirit of disobedience, the kinetic installation changes our interactions with the physical environment. Challenging our perception of architecture as static or emotionally inert.

ΑΝΥΠΑΚΟΗ is comprised of a 17-metre wall constructed from a steel spring skeleton and recycled plastic that flexes, morphs and breathes around the human body. As visitors moved through the mechanical form, they experienced the skin of the wall shifting in response.

Our project at the London Oratory School blended diverse design elements of the historic school by adapting existing structures to create additional learning spaces, including a new library.

Working closely with the architect and client, we devised a phased scheme to minimise disruption and allow the school to remain open during construction.

We designed a new ETFE roof supported on an exposed steel frame over the existing quadrangle. Around the perimeter, a new walkway at each level enlarges the existing classrooms and floor plates project into the central atrium to create flexible 'pod' spaces. On the fourth floor, a feature staircase cantilevers off the lift core and winds up through the building.

Part of the world-famous Lord's Cricket Ground, the Media Centre was the first all-aluminium, semi-monocoque building when constructed in 1999. Working with David Miller Architects, we were appointed to the 2017 refurbishment of the centre.

A complex and high-profile project, the refurbishments included doubling the area of the existing mezzanine floor plate, reworking internal layouts and updating the existing services.

Designed to accommodate over 100 journalists, radio and television commentary boxes, and standing 15m above the ground, the project was complex. We reverse-engineered the existing structure to assess capacity for supporting additional floor areas and the new gantry. We created 3D models of the existing structure and used these to coordinate new service routes and the new gantry with the existing structure.

Magna Square is a masterplan located in Egham, Surrey, which aims to regenerate the local area. It is a mixed-use scheme comprising four new buildings that offer retail, leisure, and residential facilities to increase the site's commercial value.

Designing a structural framing strategy for the project was challenging due to the variety of uses within the scheme. However, an RC frame on piled foundations for all four buildings was deemed the best solution. Additionally, a blue roof system and an attenuation tank were integrated into the design.

The largest building on the site, Block C, is home to ground-level retail, a first-floor Everyman cinema, and residential units above. To achieve the stringent noise-rating curve of NR5 in the residential spaces above the cinema, we worked with a specialist to devise an innovative solution. The design physically separates the levels - including the core and columns - using acoustic breaks, bearing plates, and a secondary suspended floor above the third floor to hold the services for the apartments.

A substantial country estate in the centre of the Cotswolds, in Gloucestershire. this Manor House dates back to the early 16th century and is a magnificent stone and timber building listed as Grade I.

Surrounding the Main House are the barns and outbuildings of various ages and conditions. The buildings have all been sympathetically repaired and altered with the many barns and byres now ancillary buildings and accommodation for the luxury country house hotel. Extensive landscaping designed by Jinny Blom links the buildings.

Marmalade Lane is a custom-built development delivering 42 new homes to Cambridge. The RIBA National Award-winning cohousing community, which includes new homes, an apartment block and a common house, was prefabricated using Swedish closed-panel timber frames and a cross-laminated timber frame.

We applied a BIM-enabled process to incorporate customised features into the scheme. Once the coordinated design was finalised, the model files were engineered, optimised and sent directly to the Swedish factory for prefabrication.

Our in-house timber team worked closely with the Swedish off-site specialist Trivselhus to develop a new design process, design manual and Revit template. This ensured transparent and efficient collaboration.

The system was built around a high-performance closed-panel timber frame, with prefabricated windows and service containment, ensuring extremely low air leakage (<2m³) and high thermal performance.

We were appointed to the Metro Bank design team developing all new proposed buildings, new store fit-outs, and major refurbishment works and alterations to existing buildings. To date, we have been appointed on over 155 projects stores, with 70 completed and another 37 live. 

To meet the clients brief of creating open banking halls, often with double-height space, we pushed the boundaries of structural design to alter the fabric of existing structures. The below-ground drainage has to be adapted to the specific constraints of each site on a project-by-project basis. It can include diversions of the existing drainage of adjacent buildings to suit the new internal layout.

The diverse projects and locations often require additional civil engineering elements such as external works (e.g. realignment of car parking), vehicle tracking across external areas, setting of external levels to comply with disabled access and Flood Risk Assessments where necessary. These projects are on fast roll-out programmes, two projects have been successfully delivered with several more reaching completion and others under construction.

NoMad London adapted and reused Bow Street Magistrates Court & Police Station into a 5-star hotel and Police Museum.

The transfromation of the Grade II-listed building included rooftop extensions and numerous isolated alterations to the existing fabric to accommodate the layout of the 91-key hotel.

Within the courtyard of the existing structure, we designed an eight-storey reinforced concrete frame extension including a two-storey basement requiring underpinning of the existing building.

The NoMad Restaurant is situated in a former vehicle yard that was previously used as an unloading point to take criminals and defendants, including Oscar WIlde, to their prison cells or impending court cases. The newly built three-storey atrium restaurant acts as a link space between the historic Bow Street Police Station and a new-build extension.

This new 20MW 350,000 ft data centre is set in a three-hectare brownfield site in Hemel Hempstead 24 miles northwest of London. Originally designed for Gyron Internet, now part of NTT Ltd, the carrier-neutral Hemel Hempstead 3 Data Centre is a striking state-of-the-art facility.

Constructed in two phases, the steel and concrete two-storey building boasts around 100,000 square feet of IT space. Built around flexibility the server suites are formed as clear spanning column-free spaces at both ground and first floor levels. Perimeter walls are also free of restrictive cross bracing to ensure maximum space for air handling and power distribution requirements.
Amongst other anti-terror attack mitigation measures, the building is protected with PAS-68-certified anti-raid provisions including fixed bollards, automated vehicle barriers and earth retaining structures.

The fault-tolerant concurrently maintainable facility includes a centrally located generator yard, its high voltage (HV) substations and UPS battery backup to achieve up to 99.99% power uptime. On-site power lines typically run through a below-ground network of service channels and chambers fully designed and detailed by Elliott Wood.

The use of Revit 3D design environment led by Elliott Wood was instrumental to the design coordination of this highly complex world-class facility.

We were selected alongside Waugh Thistleton to design a temporary pavilion for the British Embassy to host events and world leaders during the London Olympic Games in 2012. Working within an extremely tight time frame to ensure the pavilion was ready to welcome visitors from the onset of the Olympics.

Installed on the Mall, the simple design composed of timber and glass complements the classical facade of the neighbouring Grade-I listed Lancaster House.

With one-third of the structure built above Lancaster House's basement and terrace, we undertook assessments to confirm the structures capacity to support the new proposed loads from the 300-person capacity pavilion.

To facilitate accessibility, we also designed two temporary ramps using a timber and ply solution. Seamlessly connecting the pavilion to the garden level below.

One Maidenhead is a mixed-use development featuring 429 residential units and 23,000 sq. ft. of retail space. Initially tasked with RIBA stage 3 design by HUB, we transitioned to JJ Rhatigan for stage 4 through completion in early 2024.

The project comprises four blocks, 11 to 16 storeys high, with residences above three storeys of retail space. Complex lower floor plates demanded precise planning and BIM coordination.

Close collaboration between the contractor and design team was critical when managing tight schedules, costs, and site scale. We engaged site teams to optimise buildability and respond to construction demands. Early layout and structural analysis facilitated an efficient frame without transfer structures.

This collaboration ensured tight timeframes were met without compromising design quality. One Maidenhead has transformed the town centre, offering essential housing and amenities in a key commuter hub.

Situated on the Maudsley Hospital Campus in Denmark Hill, the centre houses state-of-the-art teaching and learning facilities, an open-plan café/foyer, exhibition and ancillary spaces.

Conceived as a free-standing pavilion, it is regular in both plane and volume with rectilinear elevations composed of brick and glass panelling broken by precast concrete fins on a vertical grid. The exposed reinforced concrete frame, wrapping around the central atrium over four storeys, provides open and flexible teaching spaces.

The building comprises three distinct components. The solid structural core provides overall stability, the atrium containing primary staircases linking staggered floor plates and the open elements intended to be calmer, softer spaces and are smaller in scale structurally.

Designed to be naturally ventilated, it has a high thermal mass to regulate internal temperatures. To improve the colour and sustainability of the concrete, GGBS cement replacement products were used in construction.

We were commissioned by The Pump House Gallery to deliver a temporary pavilion for Wandsworth Arts Fringe. Designed in collaboration with NEON and local students from Chestnut Grove Academy, the pavilion seamlessly blends engineering, construction, art and education.

The design is bold and contemporary but also references the history and former function of the neighbouring Grade II-listed former Pump House.

Coloured pipes form a series of repeated, distorting arches, creating a hypnotic "op-art" effect to encourage the public to explore the pavilion. We used parametric design as an optimisation tool during the design phase. Through running iterative form-finding analyses to optimise pipe lengths into groups, we reduced the time needed to cut and construct the pavilion to 1.5 days.

See how the pavilion was created here. 

We collaborated with reForm to develop a design concept for a new bridge crossing between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf.

With dozens of bridges to the West of Tower Bridge but none to the East, the bridge would provide an alternative travel option for the thousands travelling to and from Canary Wharf.

The unique design is a 185m central span supported by cables from angles masts at each side. The wishbone-like structures pivot to allow the bridge to lift at its centre and tall ships to pass. Masts also act as counterbalance weights, so the bridge can open very efficiently requiring approximately £10 of electricity to open at 2015 prices.

The RIBA Award-winning restoration and extension of the brutalist Grade II listed landmark, the last to be designed by Sir Basil Spence.

Originally built in 1976, the Worshipful Company of Salters sought to maximise the lettable floor space within the existing structure, better the sustainability rating and increase the public visibility of the building.

Alterations include modernisation of the existing building services, refurbishment of the ceremonial hall, extensions to floor plates and introduction of a contemporary double-height entrance.

Shanks House in Somerset dates from the 17th and 18th centuries and is a substantial Grade I listed estate with a country house.

Surrounding the house are a collection of barns and outbuildings creating a series of courtyards. The barns and outbuildings are typically agricultural in their construction and some are listed grade II. All the buildings have been neglected and the works comprised of a significant overhaul and repair programme.

Several outbuildings have been sympathetically converted for residential use, or simply made into usable spaces. The overriding principle was minimal intervention and the use of traditional craft skills and local materials. The works also included significant landscape works to recreate some of the original garden features.

The refurbishment project involved a series of adjustments to an existing 19th-century Church of England Convent. We collaborated closely with Hall McKnight and the project team on the refurbishment, resulting in a remarkable transformation that balances preservation with modern functionality.

Whilst primarily focussed around changes to internal layouts to accommodate new functions, including office space and conferencing facilities, the project also added an entrance building and a stair tower to resolve circulatory problems and recover a coherent pattern of circulation.

A key addition to the convent is the glazed entrance arches, which seamlessly modulate changes in space, materiality, texture, and light.

Photography copyright: Lorenzo Zandri

The new complex contains a state-of-the-art fitness gym, a multi-use space which can be used either as a dance studio, meeting space, classroom or small exam space and new changing facilities. Central to the scheme is a new six-lane 25m competition swimming pool with spectator seating, a first-floor viewing gallery and competition timing equipment.

Due to the variety of uses, we applied bespoke structural solutions to each area to deliver an efficient structure that is fit for purpose. Our design includes a long-span exposed glulam portal frame structure supported on a concrete transfer beam for the double-height space over the swimming pool and a braced steel frame for the two-storey plant and storage area. Within the dance studio and office area, we proposed braced steel frames up to the first-floor level with exposed glulam frames above.

We provided design services to update and extend the Thackray Medical Museum. The museum exhibits and educates the public on medical history from the past to the present.

Funded through a joint application to the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Welcome Trust, the works included re-ordering exhibition spaces, formation of voids through existing floor zones and opening up the main staircase and surrounding structure to create a welcoming, light-filled atrium.

The existing Grade II-listed building has had various uses since its construction in the late 1800s. It originally formed part of the Leeds Workhouse facility, then taken over by the NHS and incorporated into the Leeds St. James’s hospital campus, before being deemed unfit for modern medical use in the 1990s and adapted into its present use.

As a listed building, we played a central to the project, ensuring alterations were sensitive to the existing structure whilst also maximising the building's potential.

The Department Store Studios is a four-storey contemporary workspace building in Brixton, London. Providing 13,000 sq ft of workspace and 4,500 sq ft of retail, the development creates a platform for growing businesses with flexible workspaces – from individual desks to private studios – and a host of serviced social and meeting areas. The Studios is also home to a neighbourhood bar, restaurant, and screening room.

The crafted red brick building takes inspiration from the robust Edwardian aesthetic of its sister development, The Department Store, with patterned brickwork and contemporary faceted bay windows. A setback fourth floor responds to the surrounding residential streets and creates generous planted external terraces. Internally, designs are centred on sustainability and the honesty of raw materials, with an exposed timber superstructure consisting of CLT floors supported on glulam beams and columns.

In response to COVID-19, the Living Lantern is a bold sculptural statement of hope by NEON and Frankie Boyle Studio. The project illustrates the responsiveness of humankind and how we are capable of adapting to change and working together when we face new situations. The kinetic light installation has been designed to be inviting, offering a sense of joy in public spaces that have been quiet and felt unsafe.

We carried out the structural design of the interlocking CNC-milled plywood frame, our third collaboration with NEON following the Pump House Pavilion and the ECLH Atrium Artwork. As a bespoke, small-scale project,
this involved going back to first principles and thinking creatively to ensure the final sculpture worked structurally while retaining its architectural elegance. The result is a dynamic, wind-responsive outer membrane that opens and closes to filter the light from its core. During the day, visitors can experience a version where the artwork’s timber materiality is expressed; when it’s dark, it is activated with light much like a real-life lantern.

We provided structural engineering services for the adaptive reuse of Victorian school buildings into 25,000 sq ft of rehearsal and production facilities, galleries, office space, and a café.

During the initial construction phase, a new gallery was created behind the existing school wall using wrought iron trusses from the original bike sheds. The trusses were taken off-site, refurbished, and returned with new elongated columns and extended eave cantilevers to create a larger space.

To provide disabled access to all parts of the building, a new two-storey glass walkway was hung off the side of the existing building, avoiding the need for expensive piled foundations.

In the second phase of work, a kitchen block was added along with a steel and glass side extension.

The Parcels Building — known as such because it sits atop a former ‘Mail Rail’ station — occupies the corner of Oxford and Duke Streets in London’s West End, across from the world-famous Selfridges department store. As part of an effort to lift the character of the area, the Parcels Building refurbishment includes installing a new façade to the 1950s building and adding a storey to the part-retail, part-office scheme.

The emphasis on external appearance meant that the façade was a focal point of the development. Grafton Architects designed a grid of Portland stone, with 1.4m-wide Pierre Bleue piers that rise from ground to roof level, recessed lintels, and bands of deep horizontal shading elements at each level. On Oxford Street, the piers protrude in a softly angled form, while on Duke Street they lie flush with the elevation.

As refined and elegant as it is, the heavy new stone façade required structural innovation to support its projection from the existing frame. To achieve this, we developed a bespoke bracketry system which applied load to the columns and beams in a way that was sympathetic to the existing structural frame, reducing the need for strengthening works. Retaining the structure saved 513T CO₂e.

We carried out a detailed feasibility for the possible refurbishment and extensions to the existing buildings of The Royal Horseguards Hotel (Whitehall Court) and The National Liberal Club. These two buildings were constructed at slightly different times and with different architects. Whitehall Court (Archer & Green) predates The National Liberal Club (Alfred Waterhouse) by approximately three years and was completed in 1884. Whitehall Court is a load-bearing masonry structure whereas The National Liberal Club, which was completed in 1887, consisted of a steel frame surrounded by masonry. This means that the steel frame of The National Liberal Club predates the steel frame of The Ritz by some twenty years.

We found extensive archives of the existing building construction which enabled the feasibility of the proposed works to be addressed earlier. A review of phasing for the works allowed the Client to plan for the refurbishment whilst retaining the use of the hotel during construction. Pynford systems allowed walls to be removed in sensitive areas without the need for extensive and intrusive temporary works. This allowed the hotel to operate while these works were carried out.

Part of Tallinn’s 2022 Architecture Biennale, The Circular Block competition invited participants to consider Lasnamäe. As Tallinn’s most populous suburb, it is the site of a multi-layered design and research project
questioning established linear models of production and consumption, and proposing strategies that could shift the district towards integrated and socially responsive circular systems.

Designed by Londonon (Morris+Company, Mae, Haptic, Gort Scott, Coffey Architects, Turner Works) in collaboration with Neighbourhood and Skelly & Couch, ‘The Unfinished City’ considers all invited scales of enquiry and represents a comprehensive vision for a circular district, driven by empowered residents through adaptable structures of highly participatory governance and decision-making. We imagine a digitally-enabled ‘People’s Parliament’, with strong social connections fostered in the physical pursuit of growing, sharing and reuse. The activity is rooted in a productive hydraulic landscape and shared spaces constructed from repurposed materials and redundant building components.

Ultimately, the district, forever ‘unfinished’, sustains its own continual renewal and inspires and offers support to a wider movement of kindred projects. The Unfinished City was exhibited at the 2022 Tallinn Architecture Biennale and awarded an honourable mention by the competition judges.

When the London Borough of Tower Hamlets sought to consolidate their offices and create a welcoming, accessible community hub in the heart of the borough, the former Royal London Hospital building in Whitechapel offered the perfect setting.

Architectural heritage and modern design and materials meet in the refurbishing of this historic landmark building dating back to the 1750s. The 30,000 m2 structure underwent a massive makeover, resulting in the consolidation of several of the town council’s offices in one centralised, accessible location, providing a range of public services to borough residents. Designed with architects AHMM, the project comprised a complicated refurbishment of the existing building, along with the construction of a new, exposed RC-frame extension to create a landmark Town Hall.

Providing structural and civil engineering services, we prioritised sustainability and minimal intervention throughout the design, devising intelligent solutions to attenuate the impact of any additional load on the existing infrastructure of, and around, the site. Open from 27th February 2023, the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ building is an important investment in one of London’s most deprived boroughs. Delivering much-needed public resources for residents, the building is a new civic hub that preserves important architectural heritage.

We are working exclusively for Urban Splash to re-engineer their Mk 3 Town House volumetric factory-assembled system. By forensically taking apart the current Mk 2 system the team has radically reduced the piece count, complexity and weight of the frame. This has led to significant reductions in the time of fabrication and cost of the units and allowed the factory to upscale its production towards its target of 800 houses a year.

Westminster Chapel is a community-centred Grade II Listed Evangelical Church and a Landmark Building within the City of Westminster. The Chapel is home to the Westminster Foodbank and Christians Against Poverty Debt Centre and also hosts Sunday services of singing, preaching, discipleship and training academies. With congregational number growing the Chapel needed to update the building complex to continue to support the church’s growth and outreach programme.

Our works included the rationalisation and improvement of accessibility throughout the building via the formation of new openings and full-height void spaces. This involved a detailed investigation of the existing load paths and the provision of new steel beams over some of the larger openings, and to provide lateral stability to some of the walls where floors were being removed. Our proposals included removing a series of posts to the existing cantilevered balcony structure in the auditorium space. 

Shortlisted in the New London Architecture NLA2019 Awards, in the Conservation and Retrofit category, Whitehall Museum is a timber-framed, continuous jetty 16th century house mostly clad in 18th century white painted weatherboarding. As a rare example of Tudor architecture on a domestic scale, the grade II* listed building is of significant historic interest within the borough, where Whitehall sits at the heart of the historic Cheam Village Conservation Area.

Whitehall Museum was opened to the community as a local museum and historic house in 1978 by the London Borough of Sutton. In a similar nature to Fulham Palace, Heritage Lottery Fund funding was sought to maximise access to the building and to meet the public expectations of a modern museum. This included two small extensions in keeping with the aesthetic of the house, and a reconfiguration of the internal layout and exhibition spaces.

The project also provided further opportunities to maintain and preserve the fabric and essence of the building and to open up more of the building to the public. The existing tearoom was already a staple of the local community; the conversion of the existing warden’s flat into a dedicated space for school and family activities helped integrate the museum into the daily life of the village.