The City of London Corporation waved through the project, which will replace the façade of the office building at 10 Salisbury Square, as well as adding a two-storey extension. The practice said the development, which is close to the AJ’s office and Eric Parry Architects’ under-construction £600 million ‘Justice Quarter’, will retain 90 per cent of the existing structural frame.

JRA described the current building as a ‘1980s attempt to merge two Victorian gatehouse façades within a six-storey, brown-brick office development’, the result being a ‘clash with the heritage surroundings’. The site is in the Fleet Street Conservation Area and sits close to Christopher Wren’s Grade I-listed St Bride’s Church.

Having gone without serious refurbishment for 20 years, the office no longer meets current energy efficiency standards, presenting an opportunity to address its ‘architectural and environmental shortcomings’, according to the practice.

An updated office building with 4,900m2 of Grade-A workspace is planned, including a new whitewashed façade containing a four-storey oriel window on the rear elevation, which overlooks St Bride’s Church. The new design is intended to visually reconnect the building to its ‘historic Portland stone-dominated context’.

Anja Schellenbauer, director at JRA, said: ‘Ten Salisbury Square underscores how strategic retention, contextual sensitivity and commercial viability can be aligned to deliver genuinely sustainable, progressive and future-proof office developments.

‘By focusing on targeted, high-impact interventions and retaining the vast majority of the existing structure, the scheme significantly reduces embodied carbon, while elevating environmental performance, occupier wellbeing and urban quality.’

The scheme strives for the highest environmental energy standard, aiming for EPC A, BREEAM Outstanding and NABERS 5* ratings. The roof will be landscaped to create urban gardens.

The project is the first within the new Original Works portfolio, a collaboration between developer Simten and investor Invesco Real Estate Europe.

 

Project team

Client Original Works
Development manager Simten
Architect John Robertson Architects (JRA)
Project Manager B&Co
Cost Consultant Core Five
Planning consultant Newmark
Heritage consultant Donald Insall Associates
Structural consultant Heyne Tillett Steel
Services engineer GDM
Sustainability consultant Twin Earth
Fire engineering The Fire Surgery
Acoustic engineer Sandy Brown
Façade consultant Thornton Tomasetti
Landscape architect PAD Landscapes
Specialist lighting designer EQ2 Light
Verified views consultant Miller Hare
Lift consultant MAND