The Hoover Building

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A Grade II listed Art Deco building converted from an office to 66 homes. The project required careful and considered design, complementing the historic fabric and utilising the existing structure while converting the building by adding additional levels between the existing floor slabs. Existing and proposed loads were carefully balanced with a timber-framed solution, designed to shift the additional weight to locations that could support it.

Judge's comment:

This almost 100 year old Art Deco building has struggled to find its identity in the 21st century. It changed hands numerous times before falling out of use in 2005. The designers were tasked to find a cost effective solution to redevelop this building.

This latest conversion into 66 apartments takes the existing two floors and divides them into four, with the addition of new timber-framed structures. In order to maintain wider column-free spaces on the second floor, the new third floor was partly suspended from a new timber-trussed roof structure weaving between new loft apartments, maintaining the original building’s roof height. The entire third floor and fourth ‘loft’ floor were achieved almost exclusively using standard timber sections and construction technology (only six steel beams in total were used in the roof), at a cost of just £200,000.
In addition to the new structures, extensive work was required to restore the original fabric of the building as it had undergone numerous changes during its existence.

The overall renovation and construction costs came in below £2000/m², with immense commercial and cultural value to the project by bringing new life to the building.

All this was carried out whilst also achieving BREEAM Excellent. The judges were delighted to see this building restored to its former grandeur, whilst also giving it new energy.