Works are underway by the Leadbitter Group to remodel, extend and refurbish one of Bristol’s most prominent office buildings, One Victoria Street, on behalf of real estate fund manager PRUPIM.
Leadbitter will draw on its extensive experience constructing and refurbishing office and commercial buildings to deliver 47,000 square feet of contemporary office space which meets BREEAM Excellent standards.
Situated next to the Bristol Bridge, with views of the Floating Harbour, One Victoria Street is a five-storey 1980s building with a central core for building services, stairs and lifts and a basement.
The £5.65 million project will include removing the existing central core to create open floor plates on each storey. The floor plates will also be extended to provide a new lift and stair core on the Redcliff Street side of the building. An additional storey will also be added to the building to create a penthouse office suite.
The building’s façade will undergo extensive remodelling with new cladding installed, and the entrance and reception area will be upgraded.
Each floor will feature raised access floor panels and new suspended ceilings with all lighting and air conditioning installed. The entire building will benefit from installation of all new mechanical and electrical systems.
To achieve the BREEAM Excellent rating—an exceptional achievement for a refurbished office building—the design has focused on using highly insulated windows and cladding, incorporating grey water recycling, installing photovoltaic panels for electricity, and selecting the most-efficient heating and ventilation systems.
Rob Bradley, Managing Director of Leadbitter’s Western division, said: “One Victoria Street is a great project because it allows Leadbitter to showcase our expertise in delivering top-quality office space and in achieving BREEAM Excellent standards. The new look and layout of the building, combined with its impressive sustainability credentials, should make this a sought-after address for businesses in Bristol.”
Gavin Bridge, Director of Cubex Land, PRUPIM’S development manager, said: “We believe that on completion, One Victoria Street will be Bristol’s only refurbished building to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating. This is a groundbreaking step highlighting that it is not only new offices capable of achieving such high standards of energy efficiency and low carbon emissions.”
Martin Booth, Partner at Knight Frank letting agents, said: “With the continuing erosion of the supply of Grade A space in Central Bristol, One Victoria Street will come to the market at the ideal time. Initial enquiries are already encouraging, demonstrating there will always be strong demand for genuine landmark buildings.”
The project is scheduled for completion in autumn 2013.
