Space House

Space House is a refurbishment project of the iconic Grade II listed pair of buildings in Covent Garden that was originally built in 1968. It was designed by Richard Seifert and Partners and is a striking landmark of brutalist architecture.

The scheme is a Grade II listed refurbishment project comprising of office and retail across two buildings. The ground floor contains flexible B1, A1 and A3 use across both the Kingsway and Tower demises with dedicated office entrance for each building. Basement levels beneath the Kingsway block is ancillary flexible B1, A1 and A3 space to the units above. All upper levels to both the Tower and Kingsway to be of B1 office use. The proposal includes new landscaping between and around the two buildings. The two basement levels accommodate the B1 Sui Generis event space, offices facilities, cycle storage, plant, and car parking.

Our design uses renewable technologies such as air source heat pumps and water source heat pumps to achieve a 46% carbon reduction for the top two floor Tower extension and a 70% carbon reduction for the rest of the building.

The building has been developed in line with the BCO design guidance 2019 from British Council for Offices. We developed a unique MEP strategy with the aspiration to maximise the internal height and tenant fit-out flexibility.

A bespoke active chilled beam solution has been developed for the office floorplate to suit the existing structure constraints and maximise the floor to ceiling heights.

Track mounted linear lighting was selected after we considered aesthetics, cost, light level, uniformity, and glare. The system will also provide flexibility for future fit outs. With wireless control of each track-mounted light fitting, the arrangement and control groupings can be easily reconfigured to suit a tenant’s layout.

We developed an integrated smart building system and are still discussing further aspirations with the client, such as providing smart building control and monitoring to the future tenants and facility management team.

The project is targeting BREEAM Outstanding and is currently on site and is expected to be completed in 2024.