BuckleyGrayYeoman to convert former ice factory to mixed-use space
– Andrew Henriques
BuckleyGrayYeoman are to convert a former ice factory, coachworks and power station to house 30,000sq ft (2,800sq m) of restaurant units, retail space and offices adjacent to another of their mixed-use developments.
The firm completed its Eccleston Yards mixed-use creative hub project on a derelict and underutilised car park in London, UK, for Grosvenor last year.
It comprises a public courtyard where people can sit and a pedestrian mews surrounded by 80,000 sq ft (7,400sq m) of studio, work and retail spaces.
27 Eccleston Place will extend the development and create an additional pedestrian route into Eccleston Yards.
A fourth-floor restaurant with full height glazing will feature two terraces offering external dining space.
Built in 1830, the former industrial building is located within a conservation area and in close proximity to rows of Grade II-listed Regency and Victorian houses.
The new design references the industrial heritage of the site and uses materials to distinguish between old and new elements.
The pitched roof of the original building will be removed and a new structure inserted within the remaining volume to extend upwards, adding two new floors.
The new levels will be clad in brick that is slightly different to the rest of the building, highlighting what work has been carried out, with infilled windows and spaces also highlighted in this way.
A new saw-tooth roofline will maximise the amount of natural light that enters the building, while new double-height, steel-framed windows spanning the second and third storeys will soften the visual transition from old to new.
Elsewhere, the cast iron beams and columns of the building's façade will be retained and repainted, while existing arched openings will be restored to provide building entrances.
Andrew Henriques, director at BuckleyGrayYeoman, said: "27 Eccleston Place is a handsome and resilient building that has already been through incarnations as a power station, an ice factory and a garage. It's fantastic to be converting it to a new use and to write the next chapter in its near 200-year history."
He added: "The character of this building evolved over decades through a process of addition and adaption, of use and reuse.
"Our design celebrates the historic fabric of the building, adding to it in a way that feels legible to future generations but also of a piece with the rest of the construction and in a way that takes advantage of the technical possibilities of our own time."