Richmond Buildings

SOHO, LONDON, UK
NEW BUILD, COMPLETED 2022

Richmond Buildings is the newest addition to Firmdale Hotels in London - an innovative new workspace and lifestyle concept which sits proudly adjacent to Firmdale’s Soho Hotel.

OUR ROLE

Greenway Associates was the Quantity Surveyor for Richmond Buildings , with Liam McFaul leading our team on this project.

THE SITE

Richmond Buildings was originally a post war development of little merit, which did not make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the area. Being located within the Soho Conservation Area, the site offered great potential for a new building that would repair the street frontage, add to the mix of uses and complement the architecture of the adjacent buildings. It has since undergone complete redevelopment, with demolition of the original building commencing in Summer 2018.

PROJECT

The design by architect Allies & Morrison features seven floors, faced with green glazed terracotta tiles and large glazed window openings. The approved scheme was influenced by the proportions and solidity of the Georgian houses which characterise much of Soho.

The project experienced various challenges, such as ground work obstructions and pandemic delays. However the most challenging aspect was site logistics. Working within an extremely tight corner site, while trying to keep disruption to the Soho Hotel next door to a minimum required careful planning and scheduling.

One of the most eye-catching design details of the building is the attractive façade of green Architectural Terracotta tiles, especially those that that are moulded to fit around the vaulted windows. Internally, vaulted ceilings follow the curve of each vaulted window on the 1st to 4th floors, which was achieved by using concrete GRP formwork.

The building opened in Spring 2022, and delivers approximately 1,478m2 of space. The building’s seven floors comprise of a colourful ground floor lobby and café, three vast floors of office space, two luxury apartments and a top floor entertaining space and terrace with views over the Soho skyline. Richmond Buildings is the 14th project that Greenway Associates will complete with Firmdale Hotels, adding to another succesful project to our history with Firmdale.