St James’s Market

The Crown Estate has commenced a £500m programme of investment to enhance and refine the properties of St James’s.

Over the last decade, Waterman has been working with The Crown Estate to help them deliver an award winning £1bn regeneration of Regent Street.

Waterman have provided high quality structural engineering services to the majority of The Crown Estate’s projects; notably the two most successful redevelopments in the portfolio: Block W8 (Apple Store) completed in 2005 and AirW1 (Q3; former Regent Palace Hotel) which was completed in 2012.

Waterman have an ongoing commitment to the Regent Street portfolio and are currently providing structural design services for Block W4 and Block W5 south, Q2 (Air Street) and Q4.

The Crown Estate has now commenced a £500m programme of investment to enhance and refine the properties in their other core central London portfolio, St James’s. St James’s Gateway (1, Eagle Place) is the first development in the St James’s Conservation Area, for which Waterman provided structural engineering services. The project was completed in July 2013.

Successively, Waterman has been appointed to deliver structural consultancy for the Flagship St James’s Market project. The development area, which lies between Haymarket and Lower Regent Street, will be regenerated to provide a vibrant pedestrianised ‘piazza’ surrounded by shops and cafés.

The first and current part of the project consists of two blocks; Regent Street block and Haymarket block fronting Lower Regent Street and Haymarket respectively.

Visions by Make Architects restore the neglected site of St James’s Market to its former glory and celebrates its historic identity with the creation of a vibrant new destination.

The character and quality of the area will be enriched with a holistic design which integrates the new and existing buildings with the public realm. The Regent Street block will be redeveloped behind retained façades; the Haymarket block will be replaced with a high-quality, contemporary office and retail building which sensitively echoes the quality, scale and materials of the surrounding area.

The 350,000ft² development will deliver a new public square, offices and retail directly south of Piccadilly Circus.

Waterman’s experienced engineers are tasked with providing solutions to several constraints on the site, which include; a LUL along Haymarket, with a major Thames Water sewer running down St Alban’s Street above the proposed service tunnel; Crossrail safeguarding zones, which sit over the entire site and; existing bank vaults below the new basement level in the Regent Street block, containing a 22 tonne steel door.

Works commenced on site with demolition in September 2013. Completion is anticipated in the first quarter of 2016.