Conservation & Heritage Issue 50 Winter 2025/Spring 2026 - Flipbook - Page 8
Project Data
Making the transition from dilapidated department store to
Grade A office space required complex intervention work.
Opening up the department store’s constricted upper floors
allowed for multiple configurations of the floorplates and for
additional uses to be introduced in the future. To improve
daylight penetration, windows on the building’s internal
walls were created, served by a dramatic central lightwell.
The design picks up on the principal architectural motifs
of the existing building and cleverly combines them with
ideas of pleating and stitching from the building’s former
life as a drapery. The arch motif from the metal windows
is reworked as a filigree timber frame that lines the central
atrium which connects all floors of the building with a grand
escalator, itself reminiscent of the departments stores of
yesteryear. The finely detailed glass and ash screen is used as
a counterpoint to the ‘as-found’ roughness and the historic
fragments of the existing building. The atrium is rooflit and
drops light into the heart of the new building and structures
the new entrance sequence.
Client:
W.RE
Main Contractor:
Knight Harwood
Chartered Building Company:
Restore London
Project Manager:
Blackburn & Co
Quantity Surveyor:
Exigere
Services Engineer:
Norman Disney Young
Structural Engineer:
AKT-II Structures
Historic Buildings Consultant:
KM Heritage
Planning Consultant:
DP9
Architect:
Stiff+Trevillion
The project also added a new, innovative 8-meter ‘crown’
at the top, enhancing workspace and providing access to a
rooftop terrace with panoramic views of London.
Recognising the need for an inclusive and reflective space,
extensive public consultations ensured the community’s voice
shaped the building’s future. With over 1,000 responses—
surpassing even Battersea Power Station’s consultation–
Arding & Hobbs has been revitalised into a community
asset, transforming the area into a 24/7 destination.
Above, interior in Arding & Hobbs building,
photography by Richard Chivers
A range of exciting retail and leisure uses accounting for
around 30% of the total floorspace now occupy the basement,
ground, and first floors, including a gym, Italian delicatessen,
and a large corner café/restaurant, alongside a pre-existing
clothing retailer which continued trading throughout the
entire refurbishment.
The vast majority of the existing building was retained,
minimising the carbon impact through reduced embodied
energy. New elements were constructed primarily from
timber, aiming for carbon neutrality.
Non-original existing glazing was replaced to reduce energy
consumption for heating and cooling, following an energy
reduction hierarchy: lean, clean, and green. High-efficiency
mixed-mode ventilation with heat recovery and LED lighting
cut energy use. Office heating is provided by a VRF system,
eliminating gas usage. An onsite photovoltaic array supplies
some of the building’s electricity, while green and brown
roofs, along with roof terrace plantings, enhance local
ecology.
The building provides the borough of Wandsworth, which
has risen up the office desirability rankings in recent years,
with the exceptional quality workspace surrounded by a
strong mix of uses. The project has been revitalised into
a community asset, transforming the area into a 24/7
destination.
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Above, interior in Arding & Hobbs building,
photography by Richard Chivers
Conservation & Heritage Journal
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