Surface Design Awards – Complete

• COMMERCIAL BUILDING - EXTERIOR
  Commercial Buildings that are used for commercial purposes, and include retail, hospitality, workplaces, factories and warehouses and buildings where commercial services are provided. At least 50 percent of the buildings’ floor space will be used for commercial activities.

The renovation of 27 Eccleston Place – now known as ‘Ice Factory’ - has breathed new life into a former industrial building to create 2,687m2 of workspace, retail space and two new restaurants over five floors. The scheme serves as the next chapter in the redevelopment of a former industrial site into Eccleston Yards, the first phase of which opened in 2018 and now provides an open public space surrounded by workspace, studios and retail units tailored to independent businesses, entrepreneurs and creative talent.

Our design celebrates the historic fabric of the building, augmenting the existing building in a way that is legible to future generations. Our key design moves involved removing the pitched roof of the building and inserting a new structure within the retained fabric to extend the building upwards, whilst adding two new floors with a step down in height towards the terraced houses on Ebury Street. The new saw-tooth roofline with ribbon lights maximises natural light and takes reference from the industrial history of the site. The existing arched openings were also restored to provide entrances to the retail space and office space. A new restaurant has been created on the fourth floor, with full-height glazing and two terraces that officer external dining space looking out over surrounding rooftops and the open space of Eccleston Yards.

We were conscious that the building sat within a Conservation Area and was surrounded by streets consisting mostly of brick facades. We were also committed to retaining as much of the external fabric as possible to embrace the building’s heritage and character, so we wanted to insert the new massing within the retained walls of the existing building to retain the existing industrial character of the host building’s brickwork.

For the new-build extension, the intention therefore was not to copy the existing building but to remain distinct. Since there were a number of different bond types in the immediate area (in addition to Flemish), we proposed using stretcher bond to create a simpler and cleaner brickwork pattern within the Conservation Area. We observed that although the Belgravia Conservation Area is generally characterised by its uniformity, this is not the case either along Eccleston Place or within the site which is characterised by contrasting buildings with different brick types.

The added two storeys are clad in brick with a subtle tonal difference marking the distinction between old and new. Where windows and other apertures on the existing building are infilled, the same tonal difference marks where work has taken place to record the modifications made to the building.

The existing building had several areas of complex brick detailing around the entrances. We were conscious to introduce new brick in a traditional bond around the stepped brick entrance reveals. Elsewhere however, our approach was to retain the existing two-tone brickwork up to the eaves of the existing gable end walls. At this point, new brickwork was introduced to be distinct and not a copy, so would be set back from the existing façade line, forming a subtly different third and fourth floor extension, amplified by the use of a soldier course for the extension to differentiate it from the varied bonds of the existing building. Given the varied nature of the bonds in the existing building it was considered that a contemporary, calmer stretcher bond was the most appropriate choice for the brickwork of the extension, also balancing the strong horizontal bands of the existing (and often highly varied) brickwork. New metal-clad windows were inserted between both existing and proposed brickwork to create a link between the two volumes.

During the design process, careful consideration was given to the bond type for the proposed extension. As the building has been altered over time, the prevailing bond at any given period was used to extend the building. The extension proposed as part of this new scheme was never proposed as a contextual or ‘conservation’ project, instead conceiving of a modern addition to the existing building with a very different aesthetic. We wanted to provide a counterpoint to the host building below and reflect that when the building has been altered the brick type and bond have also changed rather than being a facsimile of what has been built previously.

The new brickwork was introduced as follows:
East Elevation - New multi-tonal brickwork introduced above existing stocks and flettons, with Stack bond brickwork detailing and recesses.
West Elevation - Very little new brickwork will be visible as this wall mostly shows the existing gable, which is mostly covered in ivy and is retained.
North and South Elevation - Multi tonal brickwork added above existing stocks and flettons is retained, with Stack bond brickwork detailing and chamfered brick panels adding.

For the infill brickwork within the existing building and surrounding window reveals, we worked closely with Charnwood Bricks – a British brick manufacturer – to devise an ‘Eccleston Blend’, comprised of bricks as follows:
50% Type 9
10% steel grey
10% C/T Renovation Blend
10% Light Victorian Light Renovated
15% Multi Brindle
5% Weathered Grey
All with Flush Pointing and set with Lime Mix Mortar

One of Grosvenor Estates’ key requirements for the project is that the building, and the construction process, met their sustainability requirements. This wasachieved using CEM-free concrete and donating to Trees for Life to directly offset the carbon emissions from the project. The project is also pre-certified BREEAM Excellent.

By using a solder course for the brickwork of the extension, we avoided the use of header bricks typical of a Flemish bond. This would have required 25% more mortar whilst header bricks would be required to create the false effect of a solid wall, progressively increasing waste time.

Most of the existing façade was retained, which includes features such as existing stock brickwork, an exposed steel structure and arched windows. The complexity of altering the building’s structure from its original status posed a series of technical challenges onsite. In response, we worked to establish a series of structural solutions to create a high-value, repurposed and more sustainable building whose preserved history will enhance the building’s brand and attractiveness and give it an edge over a new build.