Case Study: St James's Market
“A very good company to deal with.” Brian Furlong, Balfour Beatty Project Director, 28th February 2017
A flagship project for The Crown Estate in Haymarket, London, that focussed on designing around, and maintaining the original facade and building structure, whilst creating a sympathetic, yet modern uplift at the rear of the building, to create a world-standard in restaurants, retail and open-plan office spaces.
Alongside Brookfield Office Properties and Great Portland Estates, Allies and Morrison; Adexon worked with Multiplex as the main contractor, who we have partnered with before to complete a project for multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs; and BDL Dry Lining who have esteemed standing within the market because of previous prestigious London projects such as BBC worldwide HQ and Paddington Square.
Product
On the Regents Street building, now 1 St James’ Market, fire curtains were installed on the mezzanine, and ground floor, spreading up the Corian staircase to floor 7. These curtains allow for 30-minute (integrity) rating from heat transfer and fire transition.
Within the Haymarket building, now 2 St James’ Market, FCe60 fire curtains were installed on the basement and ground floor, allowing for 60-minute (integrity) rating from heat transfer and fire transition.
The chosen integrity rating ensures temperatures on the surface of the fire curtain are greatly reduced, for 30 or 60 minutes up to 1000°C, to allow for safer evacuation of inhabitants, and effective compartmentation of the building.
Result
We successfully installed all systems and fully completed the project in line with expected time frames.
We continue our relationship with Balfour Beatty.
Project
With its position in London history reaching as far back as 1290, (when St James’ farm hosted a fair every July[3]) St James Market has always had its roots in retail. The structures that make up St James’ market comprises of two buildings, sitting behind the Grade II-listed façade, and aims to provide a £1.5bn regeneration uplift for the West End; while maintaining a sympathetic palette and construction methods to unite the old and new, for example by continuing the use of light Yorkstone and bronze detailing across both structures.
The Crown Estate and Oxford Properties Group, along with Make Architects and Balfour Beatty, have restored, re-established, and created ‘210,000 sq. ft of new, modern office accommodation, five flagship stores for best-in-class lifestyle and fashion brands, and seven new restaurants, all set within over half an acre of revitalised public space.’ [3]
Occupiers of the lower retail and restaurant spaces include Christy’s Hats, Fortnum & Mason, Aquavit, and the Ritz London- Restaurant, while in the office spaces higher up the building, the Crown Estate and the Carlyle Group reside, and observe out to the London Eye and beyond.
Challenge
The two Grade II-listed facades present on the Regent Street building had to be sympathetically repaired and reconstructed to ensure the quality and character of the building was preserved, while ensuring appropriate levels of active fire protection, which added a significant layer of challenge to the project.[4]
Links
UMi, ‘Aspinal of London to open flagship store in St James’s Market‘ 08.11.2021
[1] MAKE Architects, ‘St James’ Market’ 04.11.2021
[3] Survey of London: Volumes 29 and 30, ‘St. James’s Fair, St. James’s Market and Surrounding Streets‘, St James Westminster, Part 1, ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1960), pp. 215-222. British History Online, 26.10.2021.
[4] The Crown Estate, ‘The Crown Estate chooses St James’ Market for new London HQ’ 26.10.2021
Accreditation
