92-120 Notting Hill Gate, London – Projects
Project Details
Type
- Workplace
Architect
- Squire & Partners
Client
- Notting Hill Estate Unit Trust
Location
- London
The project involves the refurbishment and vertical extension of the existing North Block that was constructed in the late 1950s on Notting Hill Gate. This is part of a wider refurbishment scheme on Notting Hill Gate Estate to provide new office spaces for tenants.
The North Block consists of four RC framed buildings currently occupied by retail and office spaces including United House (four storeys), Campden Hill Tower (nineteen storeys) and the two storey East and West Pavilion buildings that flank the tower . Up to four storey are to be added to United House and a single storey extension added to the Pavilions; whilst the ground and first floor retail units are to remain in use during construction. It is also proposed to re-clad the existing façade of United House with terracotta cladding and stone.
To minimise load increases to the existing foundations and columns, the new storeys are to be constructed out of a lightweight steel frame with CLT panels – a construction benefiting from simplicity in detailing with exposed timber soffits; reducing the construction programme; minimising deliveries to site and benefiting from a negative embedded carbon footprint.
The lack of archive information on the buildings necessitated intrusive investigation works to be carried out to determine the make-up of the existing structure. Following results of the investigations, extensive back analysis was undertaken to help determine the extent of strengthening works. A settlement analysis was also carried out to ascertain the expected level of differential settlement resulting from the increased foundation loads enabling an assessment to be undertaken on the level of damage to the existing structure.
The investigation works and settlement analysis proved that only minimal strengthening works were required to key columns, either by fixing steel channel sections to the columns or by wrapping the column with a thin fibre-reinforced polymer; whilst expensive sub-structure works were minimised; lessening disruption to the retail units.
