One Benjamin Street in London, situated directly opposite Farringdon Station on the corner of Turnmill Street, is a fabulous new-build with mixed use accommodation comprising retail and commercial space as well as residential penthouse apartments. The prominent site, owned by The Girdler’s Company for some 400 years, formerly featured three individual buildings of different style and character, which were considered unfit for purpose and replaced by one high-quality single building.

Designed by world-renowned architect AHMM, and inspired by the character of local Victorian warehouses, and craftsmanship at the core of The Girdler’s Company, the new-build offers 1692m2 of high-quality, sustainable office space with highly flexible, column-free floor plates and BCO-recommended floor-to-ceiling height of 1.8m on the 1st to 3rd floors. The overall design brief was to provide optimum flexibility when adding or re-arranging fittings for incoming tenant requirements, and the AET Flexible Space underfloor air conditioning system specified fits this brief perfectly.

Underfloor air conditioning was recommended by main contractor, Knight Harwood who had experience of floor level air conditioning from another London refurbishment in Soho Square. M&E consultant, Scotch & Partners were satisfied that the system could cater to demand, whilst offering greater flexibility for future change of use than the originally proposed perimeter heating and cooling systems.

The system specified is a CAM-V system with underfloor supply air and return air received back to the zone unit at high level. The CAM-V system is the best solution for future flexibility as there is no underfloor air baffle to reconfigure should a layout change be considered. Each of the office floors is split into two zones, with a CAM-V33 downflow unit serving each zone. A total of 105 recessed Fantiles, which supply conditioned air into the space, are evenly distributed across the six zones.

The completed new-build with its reinforced concrete frame, flat slab construction and exposed concrete soffits, columns and walls offers contemporary interior styling, and the exterior detailing combining feature brickwork, exposed polished concrete medallions and signature façade cladding incorporating the client’s crest is a quality improvement to the local streetscape and a testament to the client and project team.

Zonal underfloor aircon for Benjamin Street new-build

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