8 Finsbury Circus

The new building provides a column-free floor plate around a central concrete core, with clear façade-to-core dimensions of 16m.  Lettable area on the site was maximised by demolition of an existing building on the site with inefficient floor plates around a central atrium and replacement with a new structure with two additional storeys, providing green roof and landscaped terracing which will offer attractive views over the affluent Finsbury Circus.  A historic façade to South Place was partially retained and partially dismantled for reconstruction onto the new structural frame.  There were interfaces with Crossrail and party walls with a grade 2 listed building to the West of the site (Britannic House).

The scheme retained two existing basement levels but rationalised a number of level changes in the sub-basement, providing level space for plant use and improving the overall efficiency of the basement. The lower ground level accommodates a balance of retail and office space and include a plant room.

The ground beneath the existing site was heavily congested with large under-reamed piles and Waterman used it’s skill in 3D finite element modelling to demonstrate the soil-structure interaction with the new foundation raft, this made full use of the existing foundations to enhance the new raft stiffness and provided an engineered foundation raft with minimal reinforcement.