61 Curzon Street

The new eight storey building demonstrates how a carefully crafted contextual design can both enhance the streetscape and improve the setting of the neighbouring listed buildings in a Conservation Area, whilst at the same time creating a commercially successful and desirable workplace.

Date

2021

Value

£17m

A design team led by jmarchitects was appointed to prepare proposals for the replacement of the existing neo-Georgian building at 61 Curzon Street with a new office and retail building on this prominent corner site in the heart of the Mayfair Conservation Area.

The design created 20,000 sq ft of flexible office accommodation and a single retail unit within a high-quality building which maximised the site potential and significantly improved the streetscape. Although larger than the building it replaced the carefully crafted and well-proportioned design uses traditional materials in a contemporary manner and is respectful and sympathetic to the smaller listed Georgian townhouses that it adjoins.vvvv

The proposals were developed in close consultation with Officers and Councillors from Westminster City Council including a series of meetings and two Pre-application submissions. The consented scheme takes full advantage of the eastward looking long view of the site and places a double height entrance vestibule on the corner to clearly denote the entrance. The ground and first floors of the façade are clad in Portland stone with both Basebed and Roachbed stone used to articulate and refine the proportions of the two storey high bays. The upper floors are clad in dark grey brickwork with Portland stone dressings echoing the white rendered window reveals and rendered cornices of the adjacent Georgian townhouses.

The building was designed to be highly energy efficient and was awarded an Excellent BREEAM Rating. This was achieved by a fabric first approach with an assessment carried out early in the design process of the building’s thermal performance and its mechanical and electrical installation. An important contributor to this was the careful design of the facade which has deeply recessed punched windows in a solid brick/masonry external envelope, providing thermal mass and shading to the high-performance windows.

Despite the commercial demands of a speculative development the façade and the interior spaces have an architectural quality that raises it above the norm. The simplicity and efficiency of the core and internal arrangement has only been achieved by a rigorous approach to the use of space, to imaginative engineering and to thorough co-ordination between the designers. A restrained palette of high-quality materials to both the façade and the interiors, used in a controlled and carefully crafted manner, compliment the form and the spaces to achieve a coherent and attractive new addition to the Mayfair streetscape.

On-site energy is generated from roof mounted photo-voltaic panels and lighting demands are limited by having excellent natural light to all office areas and the use of daylight sensors and presence detectors.

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The Challenge

61 Curzon Street is located on a prominent corner in the Mayfair Conservation Area and any new design not only had to be commercially viable and create high quality flexible office accommodation but needed to meet the requirement of making a greater contribution to the Conservation Area than the building it replaced. Although uninspiring the existing neo-Georgian building was already deemed to make a positive Contribution.

The Solution

The solution was to develop a compelling, contextual, and contemporary design that related to the rhythm and proportion of the adjacent Georgian Listed buildings in Bolton Street. The use of traditional materials including dark grey brick and Portland stone are characteristic of some of the most handsome and dignified buildings in Mayfair.

The Outcome

Despite the commercial demands of a speculative development the façade and the interior spaces have an architectural quality that raises it above the norm. The simplicity and efficiency of the core and internal arrangement was only achieved by a rigorous approach to the use of space, to imaginative engineering and to thorough co-ordination. A restrained palette of high-quality materials to both the façade and the interiors, used in a controlled and carefully crafted manner, compliment the form and the spaces to achieve a coherent and attractive new addition to the Mayfair streetscape.