Zig Zag Building

• Location: Central London, UK
• Client: Landsec
• Partners: Lynch Architects
• Year: 2015
• Sector: Buildings |
• Specialisms: Civil Engineering | Structural Engineering | Geotechnical Engineering |

Located on Victoria Street, Central London, between Victoria Station, Westminster Cathedral and City Hall, Landsec has transformed this area as part of a wider, £2Bn buildings and public realm masterplan. The Zig Zag Building, originally an inward-facing 1950s ground scraper, now includes offices, housing at the co-developed Kings Gate House, restaurants, shops, bars, terraces and ample public realm. The latter purposely connecting the wider area.

At 13-storeys, it provides 19,000sqm of world-class commercial space from the second floor upwards, and retail at first, ground and basement levels. Zig Zag’s office space was recognised as ‘Office Building of the Year 2016’ by the ‘World Architecture Festival’.

What we did

Pell Frischmann exemplified its multi-faceted expertise, combining Structural, Civil, Rail and Geotechnical disciplines.

We embraced Landsec’s brief for a highly flexible, mixed mode, un-sealed building to future proof their investment and as an alternative to the standard BCO offering already prevalent in the market. Combining smoke ventilation requirements, the façade cleverly enables cross ventilation with windows which form a Juliette balcony when fully opened. The façade works in tandem with the energy strategy for the building generally. To compliment this, cooling pipework uniquely integrated in the post-tensioned concrete floor slab, combined with chilled beams, creates the possibility of omitting a conventional suspended ceiling, thus creating an impressive floor-to-ceiling height of over 3.3m.

The most challenging feat to overcome was the proximity of the tube lines, making sure both the operational tunnels are not impacted, as well as isolating the buildings above from ground-borne noise and vibration. The former was achieved with first-time approval by LUL of our designs and methodology and the latter by the introduction of elastomeric bearings.

Outcomes

Pell Frischmann thrive when applying unique solutions to complex challenges. The flexible office and generous retail space were quickly let. The industry standard of building underground walls three metres to active tube tunnels was receded to one metre, thereby maximising valuable basement space.

Awards

World Architecture Festival, Office Building of the Year 2016

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