Aros

The project involved the full CAT A & B refurbishment of an existing 38,000sqft, nine storey building, to provide high quality serviced office accommodation for owner occupier Lenta Properties and their growing serviced office portfolio.

The building comprises lower ground and ground levels, plus five upper storeys and is unusual in plan, fanning out behind the retail units fronting the street to become a much wider floor plate. The building is three times wider to the back than at the front and twice as long as it is tall. The plan is highly articulated and offers tremendous floor to ceiling and daylighting, with numerous lightwells that bring light deep into the floorplate.

Working with BW workplace experts, the scheme comprised stripping the existing building back to the structure, demolishing a secondary stair, and fit out of all floors to include office accommodation and ancillary spaces, with a view to the space being made suitable for barristers’ chambers. The reconfigured internal office spaces also open out into communal area on arrival in the space, while the offices are pocketed with breakout areas and informal meeting spaces.

Planning Consent for a metal clad rooftop extension with views to the Courts and the City was achieved within this neighbourhood of existing Listed buildings and highly sensitive Grade 1 Listed fabric. To accommodate the roof extension to the 5th and 6th floor, the building was fire engineered to remove a secondary stair, which allowed the new office accommodation to extend into the vacant space. Similarly, plant was removed from the roof and reallocated to ground level using the access to the rear. The completed roof extension was one of the first permitted in the area for some time, due to the sensitivity of listed buildings locally. The completed extension was clad in aluminum shingle to strike up a dialogue with the intricate metal detailing seen on the historic buildings in the area.