Griffith House

160,000sqft of Flexible workspace for TFL

Griffith House is an existing Art Deco building located by Edgeware Road Tube Station in Westminster. Owned and operated by Transport for London (TfL) it is an integral part of the London Underground containing trains crew accommodation, office, support facilities and lifts/escalator maintenance workshops.

Architecture 00 secured the project via the Mayor’s ADUP Framework: Lot 5 Architecture - Commercial, Workspace, Health, Education, and Civic Buildings, with a competition scheme that celebrated the potential of the existing building and proposed transforming the existing open air lightwell into a covered atrium as a strategy for achieving TfL’s ambitious energy targets. Through a series of design led feasibility studies the scope increased to include the structural potential as the ‘good-bones’ of the existing building allowed for three additional light-weight floors.

The shared ambition is for Griffith House to be an exemplar of sustainable retrofit; all electric, ultra-low energy and include biophilic design elements, to suit the long-term needs of TfL and their staff. The design is targeted to achieve BREEAM Excellent.

The existing building requires a full replacement of all facilities and MEP systems, with minor structural reorganization of the ground and basement levels to convert the existing workshop levels to the main entry, lecture theatre, training suites and train-driver accommodation.

The extension takes inspiration from the existing 2-foot window walling module to create a patterned façade, reinterpretation with a lightweight cladding system and recessed curtain wall band transitioning between new and old. The upper floors are then wrapped in an aluminium screen extending up to contain the exterior roof terrace.

The project is currently in with Westminster Council a waiting formal Pre-planning Application feedback.

Location: Westminster, London
Client: TfL
Programme: March 2020-Ongoing

Engineers: Webb Yates Engineers