Date Complete 2019
Location UK England
Client Almacantar
Architect Conran and Partners, MICA Architects

Project summary

Centre Point encompasses an ensemble of the iconic 1960s Centre Point Tower, the existing Centre Point Link and House as well as the new build White Lion House. Conran and Partners lead the design of the Tower and MICA Architects were the lead on White Lion House and the retail elements. The refurbishment of the existing buildings provides retail space on the lower level of Centre Point Link and House, along with luxury residential apartments in the Tower and White Lion House providing a new block of affordable housing.

Centre Point Tower converts a Grade II listed structure from an abandoned office block into 82 luxury apartments. Included in the building is a 30m swimming pool, gym and residents’ private dining room, cinema room and club lounge. The building has been shortlisted for the Architects Journal Awards 2019 in the Heritage category as well as the World Architecture Awards in the Adaptive Reuse category.

White Lion House is made up of 13 affordable housing units ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four bed family homes as well as a ground floor retail unit. The scheme has also received a number of commendations including a 2019 Civic Trust Award, New London Architecture Awards and British Homes Awards.

Centre Point Link is a double-banking of restaurant/retail space consisting of the simply restored main balconied bridge and the underbelly now partially enclosed with glass walls. The Link extends under the original housing block, now renamed Centre Point House and still largely in its original state, containing lofty new upper retail space.

St Giles’ Square is a public realm sided on three sides by the Centre Point Tower, Link and House. The south-facing public space takes advantage of the forthcoming arrival of the Elizabeth Line.

 

Services provided

Sandy Brown provided a full scope of services in relation to both Architectural Acoustics and Building Services noise control for all the buildings within the development, as well as support through planning and contribution to the Environmental Impact Assessment.

The development is located at the heavily trafficked intersection of Oxford Road and Tottenham Court Road, adjacent to the Tottenham Court Crossrail Development site, and above both the Central and Northern Lines of the London Underground network. All facades of the development are therefore subject to high noise levels from road traffic, particularly from a significant number of buses.

The apartments in both Centre Point Tower and White Lion House required significant sound insulation performances from the glazed elements, and while each structure is mechanically ventilated, both feature openable windows. White Lion House also benefits from external residential terraces.

Consequently, the apartments required specialist external doors to control noise ingress to living rooms and bedrooms in order to ensure compatibility with the provision of these important external amenity spaces.

Despite the limitations presented by the retained fabric and ceiling heights in the Tower, enhanced standards of acoustic separation were sought between apartments in both the Tower and White Lion House. The design was developed with the architects for both buildings to achieve this. Structural breaks were introduced in the floors of the Tower where necessary, and careful detailing of the interfaces between the floors and the pre-cast facade construction of White Lion House was required. The performances measured on completion significantly surpassed the requirements.

The main acoustic challenges relating to the retail design was achieving appropriate standards of separation to the existing retained residential apartments in Centre Point House and developing practical and sympathetic details where new elements met the retained historic building structure.