Listed Building Consent granted

We have just been granted listed building consent for our works to refurbish the tired commercial spaces in this handsome Grade I listed John Nash building situated opposite Regent’s Park.  

Existing condition

Internally, the building had been largely stripped of its historic fabric by past occupants many years ago.  Suspended ceilings dropped below the tops of the elegant arched street front windows, and a grid of square lighting and ceiling tiles paid little regard to the hansom exterior or rhythm of the building.  The space had become disorienting and labyrinthian as the once individual units had been combined into one large demise.

Figures 1 & 2: Left: The proposed finishes in the corridors. Right: The existing condition of the corridors. Source: 4 S Architecture.

Proposals to divide the space

A decision at project inception was made to divide the space back into 3 smaller, easier to let self contained spaces. This not only improves navigation within the now easier to understand spaces,  but was also seen as a positive in heritage terms as we were re-instating some of the original separations. A careful fire escape strategy was developed by C. S. Todd to address these changes.

Services strategy

We carefully reviewed all spaces as a whole to develop an overall services strategy with Cion Services, and Deltalight that would respond more sympathetically to the existing building fabric while improving lighting and reducing energy consumption.  Ceiling lighting was recessed into a slimmer ceiling void to maximise ceiling heights, minimise visual impact in the historic interior while also aligning with, rather than against, the rhythm of the street front windows.  Fan coil units will be positioned opposite window walls to  avoid interrupting the remaining historic features in the space – the beautiful original timber frame sash windows with low sill heights.  A bespoke timber trunking detail to hide all pipework and electrical runs has been developed with a similar profile to the existing skirting to minimise its visual impact. 

Figures 3 & 4: Left: Visual of the proposed corridor design. Right: The Georgian colour palette that inspired the design. Source: 4 S Architecture.

Unique interventions

We then looked to add further value for our client to each unit by forensically reviewing them on an individual basis.  As is typical with heritage properties, nothing was standard across the three units, with ceiling heights, bay sizes and layouts varying wildly.  Our proposals seek to make a series of strategic interventions that respond to the unique challenges or features that each unit possesses.  For instance, the appearance of a narrow, difficult to let space in one unit is enhanced through the introduction of a herringbone timber floor which increases its visual width, and improves the textural quality of the space.  1 metre deep ceiling voids above staircases in another unit are removed and rationalised to create height and unexpected drama.

To achieve this successful listed building consent approval we collaborated with the project management team at Jones Hargreaves, the planning consultants DP9,  the Heritage building consultants Montagu Evans, the fire engineers CS Todd, the service engineers Cion Services, and the lighting designers at Deltalight. Overall, these proposals will completely re-position the product for the commercial market to significantly improve letting, and we are looking forward to the next steps.

Figures 5 & 6: Left: Schmollinger map from 1833 of Regent’s Park - Ulster Terrace is at the bottom right of the park. Right: exterior of property on Ulster Terrace. Source: 4 S Architecture.

To find out more about our commercial projects, please click here.