Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands has created a complex of five mixed-use buildings and public spaces above the Elizabeth Line Bond Street station entrance
RIBA National Award winner 2023
RIBA West London Regional Award 2023
Hanover, Westminster
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands for GPE
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 28,909m2
Hanover is a masterplan of five buildings and generous new public spaces, located on a 0.6ha site in Mayfair, built over the new Bond Street Elizabeth Line Crossrail station entrance.
Key to the success of the project, which took 15 years to realise, was negotiating a revised location for the designated Crossrail station vent shafts. Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands positioned them slightly further away from the station entrance than had originally been conceived, allowing greater permeability and a rationalisation of the ‘over-station’ building footprint to deliver greater value for the site overall.
New public spaces include an arcade, a courtyard, and a pedestrian passageway. These successfully integrate this development into the city, enhancing the connection between Hanover Square and New Bond Street. The arcade and courtyard bring active uses into the depth of the block but offer a quiet, contemplative urban interior.
The jury enjoyed the diversity of spaces and architectural responses to the built form. A large part of the project involved the restoration of existing built heritage. The Grade II*-listed 20 Hanover Square has been carefully conserved and adapted, and a series of historic facades along New Bond Street have been retained to provide new office space behind. The new nine-storey building above the new station entrance is an efficiently planned office, known as 20 Hanover Square, designed to have a 125-year lifespan due to its relatively inaccessible position over Crossrail.
Despite the project having commenced well before current standards to address the climate crisis were the norm, it has been recognised as BREEAM Excellent/Very Good. It notably uses innovative thermal loops within the Crossrail foundations, which provide ground-source preheating and precooling for the site-wide mechanical systems. A post-occupancy evaluation for the project has contributed to the standards that the developer client has set out for all future projects.
Credits
Client GPE
Contractor Mace
Structural engineer WSP Group
Environmental / M&E engineer Hilson Moran
Quantity surveyor/cost consultant Gardiner & Theobald
Project management Avison Young
Landscape architect Bradley-Hole Schoenaich Landscape Architects
Lighting design EQ2 Light Public realm consultant
Public Conservation consultant Caroe & Partners
See the rest of the RIBA West London winners here. And all the RIBA Regional Awards here.
To find out more about the whole RIBA Awards process visit architecture.com
RIBA Regional Awards 2023 sponsored by Gaggenau, EH Smith and Autodesk