64 Victoria
- Location
- London, UK
- Client
- Westminster City Council
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Acoustics
- Building Services Engineering
- Civil & Structural Engineering
- Interior Design
- Landscape Architecture
- Lighting
- Sustainability
- Town Planning
- Completion
- 2019
- Cost
- £70m
Refurbishment of 64 Victoria a 22 storey office tower constructed in the 1960s, which is where Westminster City Council headquarters is based.
64 Victoria occupies a prominent location in Victoria, an area which has undergone major regeneration in recent years. The building has been the headquarters of Westminster City Council (WCC) since its construction in the 1960s and the council has a long lease on this 22 storey, Landsec owned building.
Typical of many mid-20th century office towers, it has a 3.1m floor to floor height with office space around a central core. Building services were at the end of their service life, passenger lifts offered an unacceptable service and it was generally in a poor state of repair.
Through a complete upgrade, a highly efficient building has been delivered, with new services, an innovative lift system and a transformed image, inside and out, enabling new ways of working. Ten floors of office are used subletting. WCC staff are now located in the top half of the building, and the scheme revolutionises its working environment.
On behalf of Westminster City Council, we led the planning for the 17,000 sq m £60m refurbishment scheme of Westminster City Hall (the council headquarters), a 22 storey tower in Victoria. The scheme included the major refurbishment of the existing offices, external remodelling, facade upgrades and a new servicing strategy, including roof top plant. We prepared a comprehensive planning strategy, identifying the key material planning considerations the proposals were required to respond to, including transport and access, townscape and visual sensitivities, and carbon reduction; setting out the route to planning consent and a strategy for engaging with the local planning authority and statutory consultees. We successfully coordinated a comprehensive programme of pre-application engagement with WCC, and prepared the planning application leading to successful determination of the application within the statutory determination period.