Carmelite House is an existing office building at 50 Victoria Embankment, in the City of London. There are two distinct parts to Carmelite, the front modern building at No.50 Victoria Embankment (built in the 1990s), and the rear Grade II Listed building at No 8 Carmelite Street (built in 1898) which is an impressive brick building with an ornate facade. The design strategy retains the majority of the existing structural frame, and renews the riverside elevation facade and the east elevation, connecting to the remaining listed facade. The key design solutions for this project included using the existing Grade II listed staircase as a means of escape with minimal additions, demonstrating existing heritage doors could be maintained in escape staircases and protected routes, and removing the need for fire resistant facades which were in close proximity to neighbouring buildings. The key issue was to remove the need for sprinklers which we successfully achieved with the cooporation of London Building Control.

Client: Quadrant Estates

Architect: Fletcher Priest Architects