Camden Council voted on 10 November to approve the project, which will update Whittington House, an office block in Alfred Place, Bloomsbury. The 1972 building, designed by Richard Seifert & Partners, features a highly polished, black granite façade.
Barr Gazetas’s scheme, for Great Portland Estates, retains around 99 per cent of the existing structure and the façade, while seeking to improve the building’s user experience and sustainability.
A rooftop terrace will be added, and the entrance will be reconfigured to create an open-plan waiting area, which will replace the existing reception.
The floor area is set to increase by more than 90m2 to around 9,200m2 of grade A workspace, which will include new amenities and bike storage facilities.
The scheme will improve the building’s energy performance through a variety of measures, such as window glazing, introducing ‘biophilia’ to add greenery throughout the office, and using materials with low volatile organic compound content to increase air quality.
Barr Gazetas associate Magnus Wills said: ‘This project is about giving a remarkable building a new lease of life without compromising its identity.
‘Whittington House is an iconic part of Bloomsbury and we’ve worked hard to ensure every proposed intervention is respectful, sustainable, and future-facing.’
The proposed changes will also improve access to the building, as well as connectivity to an adjacent park, Alfred Place Gardens.