Keyprojects | Refurbishment Go to contents 45 It involves both major improvements to existing ground floor commercial units, office entrances and public spaces, and the construction of a substantial rooftop extension. The stunning development will have over 30 000 m2 of grade A office space. Furthermore, the aim is for the rooftop extension to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification. Staticus’ scope in this exciting project covers a total façade area of 11 472 m2. This includes a new unitised curtain wall and stick curtain wall, plus refurbishment of the existing ventilated double skin façade. The fact that this project involves both renovation and construction presented various challenges for the Staticus team. For example, the installation process is complex. Frameless façade elements and other types of façade have to be assembled on site. This means that alongside the typical installation work Staticus’ team carries out, it also has to assemble prefabricated façades in the middle of central London. For this reason, the size of the installation team working on the site is significantly larger than for other projects. Furthermore, the team HUB Victoria is a unique central London project, a landmark building that will sit proudly at the entrance to Victoria Station. has had to carefully coordinate upcoming deliveries to the building site, as all vehicle movement is strictly scheduled around local traffic requirements and there is no storage location available for this project. Regarding the design of the Victoria HUB façade, the fact that this is a renovation project raised a number of issues. As-built information was frequently missing, or had a lower accuracy level than we are used to with on new builds. Furthermore, the existing buildings that are to be retained were not 3D scanned and then modelled into the BIM. This meant that clash detection could not be undertaken. An additional challenge was that differential movement between the new building and the old building required large expansion joints. Demolition is an important consideration with renovation projects, and in the case of Victoria HUB there was a significant risk factor in the tolerances of the old structure and the new. Staticus estimates implementation of the project will be completed in 2023. Victoria HUB Image © Morrow+Lorraine Architects