A carefully detailed and crafted mixed-use development in London’s Victoria by Squire & Partners draws inspiration from the area’s Art Deco architecture.

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Jack Hobhouse

Squire & Partners has completed 18-20 Greycoat Place, a mixed-use, new-build development in the heart of London’s Victoria. The seven-storey building comprises office reception and retail spaces on the ground floor, with four floors of office space above, and duplex apartments on the upper floors.

Located at the intersection of Greycoat Place, Greencoat Place and Rochester Row, the 4,052-square-metre scheme follows the curving line of the street, and draws on the detail and verticality of the adjacent Artillery House, with sculpted façade elements influenced by the art deco style of Victoria Coach Station, the National Audit Office and the former Royal Horticultural Halls.

Sandstone pilasters rise vertically across the façade, framing a series of projecting bay windows and faceted spandrels in dark aluminium, expressed in groups to reflect the retail, office and residential uses within the building. Simple scalloped details on the columns reference the neighbouring art deco inspired Artillery House, while intricate metalwork adds detail to the façade of the apartments above.

Wrapped in metal and glass, the chamfered and setback sixth floor, reflects neighbouring rooftops, and accommodates 100-square-metres of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels. The pressed, V-form detail of the cladding panels complements the graduated concave form of the sandstone pilasters, creating coherence across the façade.

The ground-floor office reception and the retail unit are conceived as active frontages, animating the streetscape. By contrast, the residential accommodation located above the office floors provides privacy from the street and elevated views. The mix of tenures visually divides the building, with the different uses reading as separate ‘bands’ within the façade. The differing architectural treatments of the window bands includes the amount of glazing used at each level, which responds to the individual daylight requirements of each use.

Situated on the corner of Rochester Row and Greycoat Place, the workspace entrance leads to a generous reception lobby with a bespoke desk, communal seating and two meeting rooms for tenant use. Four floors of column-free office space with generous floor-to-ceiling heights and large windows are arranged around a central core. The office floor cores incorporate timber panelling, copper-clad lift architraves and fluted plaster details that echo those found in the reception space.

The servicing strategy is designed to accommodate future tenant compartmentation or subdivision for future flexibility. Technical innovations include touchless access and air purification on the office floors, and antibacterial copper-coated details, such as bespoke door handles designed and produced in collaboration with ironmonger Franchi.

Aimed at single or multiple tenants, the office amenities include a dedicated reception and end of trip facilities. A basement extends the full footprint of the site, providing cycle storage for office, commercial and residential tenants, as well as showers and changing facilities.

A discreet residential entrance lobby located on Greencoat Place leads to five apartments accessed on the fifth floor. These comprise two studios, one two-bedroom duplex, and two three-bedroom duplexes. The latter contain internal staircases up to bedroom accommodation on the sixth floor. External spaces take the form of repeating Juliet balconies on the fifth floor and individual private terraces on the sixth. Bespoke balcony and terrace balustrades are designed to reflect the pattern of the pressed V-form cladding of the top floor.

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