Hanover Square and Oxford Street

A janus building facing Oxford Street and Hanover Square

An office and retail building with two distinct faces. One restrained and facing Hanover Square with dark precise brickwork and Portland stone. The other facing Oxford Street with its large shopfront at ground and first floor level and projecting windows with faience background above.

The Oxford Street faience is moulded to a bespoke pattern and is used for both the facade and the sloped roof. The pattern is repeated in the bronze modesty screens to the Oxford Street facade, projecting windows which are produced as a reflective coating on the glass units.

We assisted Campbell Architects in the detailed design of the facades. The construction techniques needed to allow for the tight site and construction programme while maintaining quality. This required the use of modern methods of construction with traditional building materials. With our knowledge of manufacturing processes we were able to identify opportunities for new materials to deliver the required aesthetic.

Precast backing walls are used to allow off site manufacture and quick site installation. The facade layout has been closely studied and the arrangement of spanning and stacking of the panels – developed to avoid the need for movement joints where they would be obtrusive.

Client: Aviva Investors | Architect: Campbell Architects | Main Contractor: McLaren Construction | Structural engineer: Waterman Group | Services engineer Hilson Moran