The redevelopment of a highly constrained, long, narrow site, originally occupied by several derelict single-storey buildings to provide a new hotel and restaurant for Soho House, Redchurch Townhouse in Shoreditch.
Sector
Expertise
Client
Soho House
Architect
31/44 Architects
Budget
£8m
Status
Completed
Year
Photography
Andy Stagg
SD Structures
SD Team
Awards
RIBA London Award 2019, shortlist
AIA UK Design Award 2019, shortlist
Dezeen Award 2019, longlist
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Project tags
Redchurch Townhouse has been extended with four storeys above ground and a deep two-storey basement. The site is bounded by properties on Redchurch Street, Club Row, and Whitby Street and so required extensive movement monitoring to all neighbouring buildings.
A concept design was produced by another team before the project went to a Design & Build contract where we were subsequently appointed given our expertise on constrained central London sites. Once we reviewed the initial design we identified buildability concerns and issues with the proposed piling locations close to the existing foundations and a significant loss of usable space.
To make the basement width viable for the proposed kitchens and plant space we redesigned the basement structure using a combination of underpinning and low level/stepped contiguous piled retaining walls installed with guide walls adjacent to neighbouring footings.
The five-storey steel frame has been stepped back in a number of locations due to right of light issues, and the entire ground floor space is column-free, resulting in a number of transfer structures. The use of shallower pre-cambered steels ensured the architectural vision was met without restricting head height at ground floor.
The five-storey steel frame has been stepped back in a number of locations due to right of light issues, and the entire ground floor space is column-free, resulting in a number of transfer structures.
The use of shallower pre-cambered steels ensured the architectural vision was met without restricting head height at ground floor.
SD was subsequently appointed to detail design the secondary steelwork to support the pre-cast concrete facade elements, and the unique support details for the brick section of the facade.
The latest software and construction techniques lead to an efficient design, and saved our client over 12 tonnes of structural steel when compared to the original concept design.
