Introduction

Located close to Tottenham Court Road, St Giles Circus is home to several famous West End music shops and venues. At the heart of the West End, the site has excellent public transport links. Plans to demolish several buildings between Oxford Street and Denmark Street to make way for the construction of Crossrail have provided an opportunity to breathe new life into the area, while retaining its foundations in the music industry. The rejuvenated site will include an impressive multi-media centre and 800-person event gallery.

The vision is to create a world-class development, taking into account the historic building fabric, accessible location and the potential to create strong links to the surrounding area. BuroHappold Engineering has provided services from the outset of the project, enabling the development of initial plans through to handover to the contractors.

Challenge

The constrained central London site is complex. Located within a conservation area, it features several listed buildings that need refurbishment, and lies between and above numerous transport links, requiring the design team to consider a diverse range of challenges during the planning stages.

The site’s constraints included the lack of opportunity for off-street servicing. In order to successfully deliver the project, our team needed to identify the impact of on-street servicing and work with Camden Council to overcome any issues. The council was also concerned about the circulation movements for the site, particularly given the close proximity of the Southern entrance and exit for Tottenham Court Road Underground Station.

Solution

Our team provided a servicing strategy for the site that included studying detailed forecasting models for a range of scenarios, in conjunction with the events programme advisor and theatre consultant, as well as undertaking surveys of existing on-street activity and comparing them with forecasting methods for current land-uses.

A delivery and servicing plan was developed by our team, setting out the requirement for site-wide management of deliveries, and identifying opportunities for consolidation through the local Business Improvement District. Our detailed analysis led to the agreement to re-allocate kerb-side space, expanding the area available for servicing, while opportunities to consolidate deliveries with other users were also identified.

Our Smart Space team informed the masterplan in order to mitigate potential overcrowding issues on the site. Our experts carried out people movement analysis in the heavily populated area to identify a number of elements, including the existing level of congestion and the impact of the development. We then supported the design developments to address the council’s concerns. Complementing this work, BuroHappold’s transport planning team undertook a sustainable transport plan that encourages visitors to arrive by foot or use public transport.

Value

BuroHappold’s multi-disciplinary engineering work at St Giles Circus demonstrates how careful planning and creative thinking can impact on the success of a development, and construction has now started on site.