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247 Tottenham Court Road is an 88,000 sq ft commercial demolition project in Fitzrovia, London. The project proposes the redevelopment of five mixed use buildings into one mixed use, office led development. The proposal, lead by architects Stiff + Trevillion, comprises of a five storey building for B1 Office use, flexible mixed use at ground and basement and 8 residential unit. The buildings due for demolition are 247 Tottenham Court Road, 3 Bayley Street, 1 Morwell Street, 2-3 Morwell Street and 4 Morwell street

Tottenham Court Road
The presence of Tottenham Court Road pre-dates any development in the areas to the east and west of this important London route.

Bloomsbury, which is located to the east of the site, and Fitzrovia, to the west, were both developed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Bedford Square, London's only fully preserved Georgian square, is situated to the east of the site.

Whilst the site does not lie within a Conservation Area, it sits in close proximity to the Bloomsbury Conservation Area and the Charlotte Street Conservation Area which is located to the north-west of the site. There are no listed buildings within the site’s boundary

By contrast to the conservation sites, Tottenham Court Road has been redeveloped on a plot by plot basis over time, as is typical of main roads. There are several larger buildings such as the Heal’s building and 1 Bedford Avenue. Many of the buildings along Tottenham Court Road have a similar aesthetic with predominantly concrete or stone facades. Located towards the north of Tottenham Court Road are larger scale, modern buildings, with smaller scale, brick period buildings found towards the centre of the route. Again, larger scale modern buildings can be found at the southern end of the road, which results in quite a varied streetscape with no common theme.

Camden Council has also recently finished a £35 million scheme to transform the areas around Tottenham Court Road, Gower Street, Bloomsbury Street, Princes Circus and St. Giles.

247 Tottenham Court Road
Built in the 1970's, 247 Tottenham Court Road comprised of basement, ground plus seven stories with shop and café (Class A1) uses at ground floor and the upper floors within an office (Class B1) use. Office carparking is provided within the basement with access from Morwell Street.

3 Bayley Street
The existing building joins the northern boundary with 247 Tottenham Court Road and is comprised of ground plus five storeys. The upper floors contain four residential dwellings and the first floor forms part of the office at 247 Tottenham Court Road.

1 Morwell Street
The existing building is made up of ground plus two stories and contains two residential dwellings.

2-3 Morwell Street
At ground floor, the existing building is linked to the shop (Class A1) at 242 Tottenham Court Road, and was occupied previously by Tiger on the ground and lower ground floors. The first and second floors (and part of the basement) are in use as an office (Class B1) and are accessible from office floorplates on Tottenham Court Road. These are the only Victorian Terraces on the property, however they are not listed or on any conservation list.

4 Morwell Street
The existing building was occupied by the Architectural Association at basement, ground, first and second floor and comprises a mix of storage, studios and offices and is a mix of Class B1/D1 uses.

Existing 247 Tottenham Court Road
Architects Stiff + Travillion ’s approach to all projects is to upgrade existing buildings - rather than demolish and re-build - whenever possible. In the case of 247 Tottenham Court Road, investigations into the feasibility for retention of the existing building came to the conclusion that the buildings were no longer fit for purpose. Poor internal layouts stepped access across all three elevations, out of date and falling mechanical and ventilation systems, vertical transportation in need of replacing, low performance of external facades, incorporation of poor-quality building materials and poor-quality residential accommodations are among the demolition justifications.

Whole Life Carbon Assessments
Whole life carbon assessments were carried out using OneClick LCA’s Carbon Designer tool, together with operational energy benchmarks for the MEP systems, employing future carbon factor projections over 60 years for the decarbonised electricity supply. The assessment ran through and compared the following scenarios:


 * 1) Refurbishment (with retained façade). No modifications to façade; new M&E services with gas-boiler (regulation compliant).
 * 2) Refurbishment (with replacement of façade). Replacement of façade; new M&E services with gas-boiler (regulation compliant).
 * 3) New construction development. New energy efficient design; low carbon structure and low carbon mechanical, electrical and public health (MEP) systems.

The analysis considered embodied carbon in both construction and operational carbon. The results indicated that a new construction development has a lower whole-life carbon emission compared to the refurbishment options over the established 60 year period. In this case, it was also considered that the most sustainable design intervention for the site would be total redevelopment. Methods of low carbon construction are therefore being considered for the project, including a review of low embodied carbon super structure & façade and other elements specified with a high content of recycled material. The architects state that the proposed new design justifies a heat pump installation, which corresponds with a future market expectation

Timeline

 * January 2021: Application approved by London Borough of Camden
 * Spring 2021: Confirming heads of terms for s.106 agreement
 * April 2021: First Construction Working Group meeting
 * Late Spring/Early Summer 2012: Second Construction Working Group meeting
 * Autumn 2021: Start of demolition programme
 * Early 2022: Construction begins on new building
 * Autumn 2024: Expected project completion

Phases
As of October 22, 2021, all pre construction and site establishment works on site have been completed. A this date, Phase 1 of the demolition tender programme is ongoing. This phase highlights the demolition of 247 Tottenham court road to ground floor slab. This includes top sown demolition of the Morwell street buildings, the soft strip of 247 Tottenham court road ground level, roof, 6th and 5th floor. The following phase, 2A, includes basement enabling works, which will infill vaults on Morwell Street and secant pile enabling to basement and probe. Phase 2B, piling works, are due to begin early 2022.

Demolition Method
Due to the density of building's and traffic surrounding the demolition site, a top down demolition method has been chosen. This demolition method includes both mechanical top down demolition as well as manual top down demolition.

Mechanical Demolition
Mechanical demolition will take place on 247 Tottenham Court road, 3 Bayley Street, and 1 Morwell street. 8 ton excavators with pulverisers and breakers will be lifted via a mobile crane to the 4th floor terrace of 247 Tottenham Court Road to facilitate the demolition. Once 4th and 3rd floors are demolished, 35 ton demolition excavators will demolish 2nd floor slabs.

Manual Demolition
Number 2-3 Morwell street are set to be demolished top down by hand concurrently as well as Number 4 Morwell street boundary wall and roof down to the 2nd floor.

Site traffic
Site traffic will operate in a one way system. When entering the site, heavy lorries will head southbound down Bloomsbury St, turning right into Bedford Avenue and down into Morwell St. When exiting, they will head northbound on Morwell St, turning right at junction onto Bayley Street and left at the Gower Street Junction.

There will be a minimum of 3 traffic marshals on sight. One located on the corner of Bayley St. ensuring the dispatching of vehicles. The second one located on Morwell street escorting vehicles into the pit lane/site to support larger vehicles with right turn manoeuvres into Bedford Avenue. The the third one located at the Adeline Place junction ensuring the crossing of school children through the day. Previous construction management plans were discussed, some of which proposed using Tottenham Court Road as a route for the demolition and construction traffic. This plan was vetoed by the Camden Council's West End Project team which have spent roughly £35m transforming the Tottenham Court Road Area.

Design Objectives
Stiff + Travillion architects are striving for low operational carbon. Low carbon energy strategy has been contemplated in the new design with Air Source Heat Pumps and roof-Mounted PVs. They are also targeting EPC ratings of A or B compared to the existing ratings of D and E and are aiming for 'Outstanding' on the project's BREEAM certification.

The proposal also strives to implement as much flexibility into the structure as possible in order to extend the lifespan of the building. The residential floor to ceiling heights, for example, would match those of the office to allow future flexibility in terms of land use across the site. The super structure has also been designed and calculated to allow a maximum amount of uninterrupted floor space between structural columns.

A key aspiration for the design is also to maximise activity at ground floor level. The current activity frontage is 55% while the proposed achieves 90%. This design strategy is intended to prevent 'anti-social behaviours' from occurring in Morwell street. The residential element has been positioned to the southern part of the site with the entrance also located on Morwell Street. The building steps down and is set back by 2.5 metres at 4th floor level along Morwell Street to minimise the impact of views from Bedford Square, with the building set back at the 5th floor level on the corner of Bayley Street and Morwell Street.

The proposed building is clad in a material that allows its curvilinear ‘baroque’ form to be expressed sculpturally and to reflect light and shadow as the day goes by. High gloss glazed terracotta is proposed for the Tottenham Court Road façade. A decision on colour has not been reached but developing ideas are under discussion with officers at the London Borough of Camden.

Victorian Terraces
The Charlotte Street Association (CSA), Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association (FNA), and the Bloomsbury association (BA) believe that the Victorian terraces found on 2-3 Morwell street should be put on a conservation list and preserved. Currently the two Victorian terraces have no conservation status and are at high risk for demolition. The various associations believe the building's merit is found in the original Victorian shopfronts found on ground level as very few buildings of this type remain with anything near to 'original' shopfronts in Central London. Conservation officers revealed that much of the shopfronts had been destroyed and butchered upon removing the boards which had been attached for their protection.

Proposal Plot Width / Height
Concerns were also raised that Morwell Street is currently home to a variety of different architectural styles but of a consistent plot-width, something characteristic of Central London as a whole. Demolition of the entire of the block to be replaced with a bland ‘monolith’ would do harm to Central London’s varied character, and negatively impact upon the remaining mews-style buildings on the eastern side.

The various associations (BA, BCAAC, FNA, and CSA) added that the redevelopment would have a negative impact on Bedford Square, London's only fully preserved Georgian square, as the new building would be visible from the square.

Demolition/Construction Traffic
Objection were raised over the proposed construction management plan which routes heavy lorries through narrow residential streets and past listed buildings and a primary school instead of through the wider Tottenham Court Road. A previous construction management plan proposed using Tottenham Court Road as route for the demolition and construction traffic, however it was vetoed by the council's own West End project team as fear over harming the £35m vanity project which transformed the shopping streets were raised.

The application running demolition and construction traffic through Morwell Street, as recommended by planning officers, was approved after a majority vote of the 11 member planning committee on 28 January 2021.

Those in opposition included the Bloomsbury Association, Bloomsbury Conservation Advisory Committee, Charlotte Street Association, Ecole Jeannine Manuel, Georgian Group, Bedford Estates, and Bedford Court Mansions.