Situated alongside London’s Denmark
Street, a thoroughfare steeped in
musical heritage, and also known
as Tin Pan Alley, the St Giles Circus
development is a mixed-use scheme that
features, among other things, a large urban
gallery which is said to re-imagine a music
venue for the 21st Century.
Housed in a large column-free ground
floor space, which is four-storeys high,
the gallery will feature two innovative,
retractable façades which when open reveal
LED screens along two walls as well as the
ceiling.
“The urban gallery is the face of the
project. It is a multi-functional space for
different types of events. The concept is built
on the musical and creative past of Denmark
Street and provides a venue relevant for the
21st Century,” says Orms Project Architect
and Associate, Andrew McEwan.
“A series of sliding doors will allow the
Urban Gallery to be open to the general
public or closed for private events, while the
moving three-storey high louvres situated
above the doors will be open for most of
the day and evening, allowing the gallery
to essentially be a covered outdoor area.
They will bring a real sense of theatre to the
building.”
The gallery is just one part of the overall
development as the St Giles Circus scheme
consists of four separate new buildings (A,
B, C and D) that also house an hotel, retail
spaces, commercial offices, restaurants and
bars, and residential accommodation.
Meanwhile, below ground there is a fourstorey
deep basement, which will house a
box-within-a-box 2,000-capacity acoustically
isolated auditorium as well as offices and
back-of-house facilities.
“The subterranean parts of the scheme
have dictated our construction programme
and methodology,” explains Skanska Senior
Project Manager Neil Keogh. “To construct
the scheme efficiently and within our
timescale we are using a top-down method,
whereby the basement is being dug-out
while the steel frames for A and B are
simultaneously erected above.”
A series of steel plunge columns has been
Mixed-use
FACT FILE
St Giles Circus
development, London
Main client:
Consolidated
Developments
Architect: ORMS
Main contractor:
Skanska
Structural engineer:
Engenuiti
Steelwork contractor:
Severfield
Steel tonnage: 2,400t
Steelwork performs
complex circus act
A central London mixed-use development that contains an
urban gallery and a basement auditorium is being constructed
around a number of site constraints including a nearby
Underground escalator shaft and a Crossrail tunnel. Martin
Cooper reports from St Giles Circus.
16 NSC
February 19
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