Fitzroy place is the most significant new development in Fitzrovia in over 50 years. Surrounded by Soho, Mayfair, Marylebone and Regents Park, this mixed use scheme includes almost 300 homes in three in situ concrete framed buildings, as well as 210,000 sq. ft. of offices and 21,000 sq. ft. of restaurants and shops in two steel framed buildings, encompassing some of the most desirable residences and commercial premises in London.
All of the five high end commercial and residential buildings spring from a two storey basement raft, covering the whole site footprint. Rising up to ten storeys, the development is set around a major new public square with the former Middlesex Hospital’s retained grade II listed chapel providing a central focal point.
Ramboll undertook civil, geotechnical, structural, fire and environmental engineering to facilitate the double storey basement, covering the entire site footprint and incorporates plant, car parks and resident services. The early piled foundation design was replaced with a raft design that generated large savings in cost, programme and excavation quantities. The basement excavation profile steps inboard of the original hospital site retaining walls, allowing them to be reused for both temporary and permanent works. Relatively complex transfer structures were required in the substructure to allow the loads from the office and residential buildings to reach the foundations without unduly restricting functionality in the car park and plant spaces below.
Above ground, Ramboll undertook façade retention engineering on one of the residential buildings listed and protected Grade II façades and full structural engineering, including the management of the superstructure’s tight deflection limits on thin slabs floors and balconies. Ramboll also undertook fire engineering for the entire project, developing a fire strategy in conjunction with the local authority, providing enhanced functionality of the residential and commercial spaces, with full regulatory compliance.
