ham yard hotel london media info

Media InformationHam Yard HotelLondon, UKJuly 2014

WOODSBAGOT.COM Ham Yard Hotel | Page 3

Contents

01 Project Description02 Site Plan03 Photography04 Concept Drawings05 Elevation06 Site Section07 Ground Floor08 Typical Floor Plan09 Theatre10 Theatre Mezzanine11 Theatre Section12 Credits/Collaboration

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WOODSBAGOT.COM WOODSBAGOT.COMHam Yard Hotel | Page 4 Ham Yard Hotel | Page 5

01 01“Ham Yard Hotel is an innovative regeneration project which will make a significant contribution to the public realm in this part of London. The hotel creates a new landscaped space carved out of a previously derelict car park, adding new restaurants and niche retail at ground level into the mixed-use fine grain typical of Soho. The project re-builds the site’s former pedestrian linkages, helping to restore the network of short narrow streets which are essential to Soho’s vibrant 24/7 economy.”

Jonathan LeahProject DirectorWoods Bagot

Background

The second new-build Firmdale hotel in the UK, designed by Woods Bagot, has recently opened in the Soho area of central London.

Soho remains one of London’s most colourful and vibrant neighbourhoods characterised by a pattern of urban form and development established over three centuries ago. Its high density, small scale mix of different uses is the key to its historical and contemporary social, economic and cultural character. It has been subject to a fairly continuous process of infill and site development. However, partly because of a complex backdrop of land ownership and occupancy, there are few cases of site consolidation and larger scale development in the Soho area.

Before it was acquired by Firmdale Hotels, Ham Yard had been an abandoned site close to Piccadilly Circus, with limited public access. Part of it had been used for a music club—the Piccadilly Jazz Club—which later became 'The Scene Club', one of the early manifestations of the emerging Mod movement in the 1960s. The site was also partially occupied by a car park, a remnant of the former Piccadilly Garage which had originally opened in the 1930s. From the late 1970s onward, a number of planning applications proposed for redeveloping the site—including plans for office and mixed-use schemes and even a multiplex redevelopment—gained consent. However, for various reasons, none of these were implemented.

Ham Yard HotelProject Description


Creating a New Corner of Soho

The scheme—which sits within the Soho conservation area of Westminster—is arranged around a central landscaped courtyard that establishes a new public route between Denman Street and Great Windmill Street.

The courtyard incorporates large trees, mature planting, benches, a drinking fountain and a specially-commissioned bronze sculpture by Tony Cragg. A holistic design approach that seeks to bring the outdoors inside—and turn the indoors outside —includes the hotel’s bar and restaurant that has direct access to the courtyard, allowing alfresco dining in fine weather. A number of niche retail units form an arcade at the southern entrance from Denman Street, continuing along the southern edge of the garden square and on to Great Windmill Street. This helps to retain elements of the surrounding traditional Soho typology of small independent, specialist retailers and boutiques.

The design approach to Ham Yard Hotel seeks to encapsulate the distinctive architectural landscape of Soho by delivering a building which is complementary to the scale, massing and materials of the area, while providing a contemporary addition to one of London’s key leisure and tourist districts.

It is close to the Crown Estate redevelopment of Quadrant 3 building and David Chipperfield’s refurbished Café Royal, all of which are contributing to the rejuvenation of this south-west corner of Soho. Ham Yard Hotel helps specifically to repair the urban fabric of its site while engaging the wider neighbourhood within which it is located.


The Development

The new development comprises a 91-room hotel, as well as 24 luxury apartments, 13 retail units and a restaurant, bar, gym and spa. Within the basement is a 190-seat theatre space and a series of private event spaces, including a four-lane bowling alley. Ham Yard Hotel will add to Firmdale Hotels’ London portfolio which includes The Soho Hotel, Charlotte Street Hotel and Haymarket Hotel. The company also operates one luxury hotel, in New York, Crosby Street Hotel, with a second scheduled to open in 2016.

Hotel accommodation is arranged across Levels 1 – 5 offering a total of 4,247m² of floorspace ranging from deluxe double rooms—59 rooms of between 38 – 44m²—to a terrace suite of nearly 150m².

Residential accommodation is on the southern side of the development, accessed separately from the hotel entrance using one of two private lobbies. The units range from single bedroom apartments to three-bed duplexes and have their own external roof terraces and gardens.

At Level 4, the building drops in scale to reveal an outdoor roof terrace and kitchen garden providing an additional external events space that has panoramic views of the Soho skyline.

Materials

The main elevations of the new hotel are composed of pre-cast stone and brick and incorporate Firmdale’s signature floor-to-ceiling steel framed Crittall windows, giving the development a warehouse aesthetic traditionally found in the Soho area. The smooth re-constituted stone panels wrap around the inside of the courtyard and are articulated to provide a variety of openings, setbacks and balconies. The yellow London stock brick façade is recessive and extends to ground culminating in a band of natural Portland Stone and Staffordshire Blue brick that forms a constant plinth detail around the development. Openings at ground level are framed in honed and flamed black granite, with a number of the areas projecting beyond the plane of brick to form fully-glazed shop fronts.

On the Denman Street façade, the yellow London stock is replaced by a Windsor multi-red brick which is softer and darker in tone to match adjacent buildings. At Great Windmill Street the yellow stock brick turns the corner to form a series of shop units terminating in a full-height, four-storey, pre-cast stone façade.

At a higher level, as the building steps back away from the cornice line that aligns with the typical scale of the adjacent buildings, the façade material changes to a blue/grey pre-weathered zinc cladding system. The vertical zinc panels incorporate structurally glazed windows and doors and come together as an area of clear and translucent curtain walling, set back behind the pre-cast stone panels in a six-storey vertical arrangement above the main entrance.

Sustainability

As a responsible operator, Firmdale Hotels is committed to leading the industry in minimising the impact of its activities on the environment and seeks to promote the principle of sustainable development by adhering to and, where possible, exceeding current legislation and best practice guidelines.

Against this backdrop, Ham Yard Hotel has achieved a BREEAM Excellent rating. This is the result of incorporating a range of features which are aimed at carbon reduction, encouraging bio diversity and optimising water consumption, including:

– Three CHP (Combined Heat & Power) units which help to contribute to the heating and electricity requirements of the hotel in a far more efficient way than energy production by commercial power stations and saving approximately 160 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually; – Air source heat pumps which extract and utilise the outside air for heating and cooling the building; – Photovoltaic panels installed on the roof of the hotel to generate electricity, all of which is used in the building; – Green roofs and a roof terrace (incorporating a kitchen garden) on the top of the hotel building which provide an additional amenity for guests as well as an opportunity for the development of natural micro-habitats.

The Theatre Space

Ham Yard Hotel contains a number of event spaces, including a large auditorium capable of supporting live productions including music, comedy and conference presentations. Designed as a ‘black box’ proscenium theatre with a small stage, it has 190 seats with an upper balcony and the latest in acoustic technology, including a new cinematic sound system – ‘Dolby Atmos’ – one of the first of its kind to be installed in a UK venue.

The ceiling and walls are arranged as a series of panels in a ‘sawtooth’ arrangement to maximise acoustic absorption and to conceal theatre and house lighting. The blue fabric of the walls contrasts with the bright orange Italian leather of the large armchair-like seats and creates a spacious feel that is unlike much of the cramped, Victorian theatre space common throughout Soho.


Ham Yard HotelProject Description 01 01


0202 Ham Yard HotelSite Plan

Ham Yard HotelSite Plan

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1 Regent Street2 Piccadilly Circus3 Shaftesbury Avenue4 Great Windmill Street5 Archer Street6 Denman Street7 Ham Yard8 Brewer Street9 Sherwood Street


03Aerial view of Ham Yard looking towards Great Windmill Street / Archer Street

Ham Yard HotelPhotography

Photography credits: All photographs should be credited to 'Will Pryce' unless otherwise indicated


Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.1View looking towards Ham Yard from Archer Street


View of Ham Yard showing the new hotel entrance from Archer Street

Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.2


Outdoor dining and landscaping detail within the newly-created courtyard area



Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.4Detail of the new hotel entrance in Ham Yard


Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.5View from Denman Street showing the entrance to the new arcade


Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.6View across the courtyard area looking eastwards towards Ham Yard/ Great Windmill Street


Ham Yard HotelPhotography03.7View of the new Tony Cragg bronze sculpture (commissioned by Firmdale Hotels) in Ham Yard



View through the arcade from Denman Street looking towards the courtyard

Photography credit: Firmdale Hotels


View of the theatre space in Ham Yard Hotel




Detail of the theatre space in Ham Yard Hotel (view towards the stage)


Ham Yard HotelConcept Drawings04Above right: Early ground floor planning study

Below right: Elevational and material detail study


05 Ham Yard HotelElevation 06 Ham Yard Hotel

Site Section

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1 Denman Street2 Hotel3 Apartments 4 Car park5 Staff room6 Plant room7 Theatre space8 Events space9 Meeting room10 Gym11 Retail12 Hotel bar13 Smith's Court

South elevation from Ham Yard


07 Ham Yard HotelGround Floor

1 Ham Yard2 Denman Street3 Smith's Court4 Hotel reception5 Drawing room6 Kitchen7 Restaurant8 Bar9 Conservatory10 Library11 Office12 Car lift13 Arcade14 Retail Units15 Restaurant Unit16 Refuse storage

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08 Ham Yard HotelTypical Floor Plan

1 Hotel2 Apartments

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09 Ham Yard HotelTheatre 10 Ham Yard Hotel

Theatre Mezzanine

1 Theatre—stalls2 Theatre bar3 Events space4 Meeting room5 Green room6 Main kitchen

1 Theatre—upper balcony2 Theatre bar

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Ham Yard HotelCredits/Collaboration12Developer: Firmdale Hotels

Architect: Woods Bagot

Interiors: Kit Kemp

Planning Consultant: CBRE

Structural Engineers: David Dexter Associates

Services Engineering & Sustainability:

Mecserve

Quantity Surveyor: Greenway Associates

Landscape, Transportation, Waste & Public Realm:

Atkins

Party Wall Surveyor: Peter French

Rights of Light: Gordon Ingram Associates

Inclusive Design: Buro Happold

Residential Advisors: Savills

Fire Engineers: Exova-Warringtonfire

Acoustic Consultant: Clarke Saunders Associates

Theatre Consultant: Future Projections

Theatre Lighting: Illumination Works

Lighting Consultant: Lighting Design International

Approved Inspector: AIS (Approved Inspector Services)

11 Ham Yard HotelTheatre Section

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1 Plant room2 Green room3 Theatre bar

For media enquiries contact:

Paul StelmaszczykDirector of Marketing& Communications

Woods Bagot75 Riding House StreetLondon W1W 7EJUnited Kingdom

+44 20 7637 6931+44 7958 633 [email protected]

ham yard hotel london media info

Documents

comham yard hotel page

site development

new restaurants

new public route

denman street

soho area of central

abandoned site close

cases of site consolidation