Kingsway: Steelwork for Rooftop Apartments

These photographs show the new steelwork structure for the residential rooftop apartments currently being installed at Sidell Gibson Architects' Crown House No. 1-5 Kingsway project in London's West End:

It is a mixed development of 8 floors of modern open plan office accommodation, street level retail units & seven high quality duplex apartments at the 9th & 10th floors, which have their own landscaped courtyard. Each apartment has a panoramic view of the skyline of central London, particularly the principal apartment which is housed within the rebuilt roof-level Rotunda (red arrow on image below) above the building's main entrance on Kingsway.

The site is bounded by Kingsway, Aldwych, Drury Lane and Kean Street in the Theatreland area of the West End in London and is within the Covent Garden Conservation Area in the City of Westminster.

Part of the office and retail areas have retained façades to Kingsway and Aldwych (see image below from demolition/façade retention stage). The existing retained facades are predominantly natural Portland Stone with period metal windows incorporating large decorative spandrel panels.

The remainder of the development has a new external envelope of metal-framed windows in a red brick façade dressed in reconstructed stone window surrounds which match the surrounding architectural theme of original elevations and allow the building to fit within the urban character of the area.

The seven residential apartments are served by shared fire escape cores including fire lifts and stairs. Four of the seven apartments have been designed as duplex units and have a separate entrance on Kean St with an alternative access at ground floor level on to Aldwych.

The office building will be designed to be capable of meeting the requirements of a single or two tenants on a floor-by-floor basis.