27-33 Finsbury Square
London
- Client: Scottish Widow Fund & Life Assurance Society
- Architect: Eric Parry Architects
- Stone Consultants: Harrison Goldman Design Consultants
- Main Contractor: HBG Construction (Southern)
- Stone Fixer: Szerelmey Limited
- Material: Portland Bowers Basebed
The project comprised a large office development of approximately 16,660 square meters of office floor space arranged over 7 storeys. The approximate overall budget was £25,000,000 and the stone supply was completed in July 2001.
Situated in the business Centre of London in one of the London Borough of Camden's conservation areas, 27-30 Finsbury Square utilised the traditional Portland Stone element of the surrounding buildings and combined it with contemporary design practices.
Careful consideration had to be given to an existing 1920's facade which was listed on the Council's register of locally listed buildings which occupied part of the site. However, Planning Permission was granted by Camden Council in March 2000 for the demolition of the existing building and the resurrection of a new prestigious 7-storey office building with a grand Atrium designed by Eric Parry Architects.
The building was constructed with approximately 370 massive post-tensioned stone structural columns. The columns were typically 1000mm x 400mm x 3300mm and were created out of 4 pieces of cut Bowers Basebed with 1.5mm tolerances. These were then assembled without vertical joints and tensioned off site by Szerelmeys Limited with each column taking approximately two weeks to complete.
Whitby Bird & Partners assisted in the development of the structural system which included pre-cast concrete units which acted as transfer beams to distribute the load between the Portland Stone piers.
Bowers Basebed was selected for external cladding following careful deliberation of an extensive range of foreign and UK Limestone by the Project Team.
As a structural element of the building, the compressive strength of the stone was a very important factor. Albion Stone were able to assist with the provision of samples from a pre-purchased stock of Bowers Basebed blocks. The test results from this stock demonstrated the consistent nature of the Bowers Basebed and very few stones were rejected.
Full sized mock-up columns were tested at the BRE's Garston testing laboratory to ensure the quality of the manufacture for this project.
Throughout the project the Project Team visited the Albion's Factory and Quarries at Portland and familiarised themselves with the Quarry Control Samples and the specialist manufacturing required for these large stones. This was an unusual Project in that it used Portland Stone as the load bearing material. The end result is a prestigious building which both the Client and Architect are extremely pleased with.
In January 2003, The 27-33 Finsbury Square Project was awarded the"Design Excellence Award" from the American Institute of Architects. The Project was the first speculative commercial building to be short listed for the Stirling Prize 2003.
The total cost of the Portland Stone supplied was just under £1million.