Once home to lead and glass merchants George Farmiloe & Sons and a popular location for television and films, the redeveloped Grade II listed building retains the existing Victorian structures combined with a new extension to form a major commercial development in one of the capital’s most vibrant areas.

Located within the Charterhouse Square Conservation Area, the building is arranged over six stories and provides 60,000 sq ft of offices and 2,700 sq ft of retail accommodation. The Victorian warehouse frontage is preserved and contrasts neatly with the modernised interiors.

The property features a full height central atrium with restored Victorian features and external roof terraces. The newly built central atrium adjoins the listed and new buildings with link bridges between the two.

One of the key challenges acoustically was the size of the enclosed atria and the predominantly acoustically reflective finishes such as glass, stone and concrete, which untreated would lead to high reverberation times. Through detailed acoustic modelling of the spaces, Sandy Brown were able to advise on the strategic location of sound absorbent finishes in order to reduce reverberation and noise build-up during busy times whilst maintaining the historic aesthetic.

Assessing and advising on the airborne and impact sound insulation improvements to retained floors was another key challenge along with the control of noise from the substantial amount of plant required to serve the building both internally and externally, due to the close proximity of adjacent buildings.

The design was delivered so that the BREEAM acoustic criteria were achieved and these contributed to the building’s overall “Excellent” BREEAM rating.