Squire & Partners completes 93,000 sqm mixed-use development in Westminster
Architects Journal
The Broadway, for Northacre, provides residential, work and retail space plus new public realm and is arranged across two podiums each supporting three buildings, ranging from 14 to 19 storeys
The overall design, which received planning in April 2016, is intended to create a ‘campus feel’. A new connection through the site links Victoria Street with Broadway and Dacre Street, while framing views of the Grade I-listed 55 Broadway, designed by Charles Holden in 1931.
A new public space – Orchard Place – has been created as part of the ground plan, forming an extension to the adjacent Abbey Orchard Street.
The site previously housed the 1960s headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the former New Scotland Yard, which occupied the entire footprint of the site, so offering little significant contribution to the public realm. The building was judged inappropriate to retrofit, being purpose-built.
The new development features diamond-shaped precast façade panels which are intended to echo the Art Deco architecture of 55 Broadway, which was the headquarters of TfL until 2020, when it was announced that EPR had the go-ahead to convert the building into a luxury hotel.