Royal College of Pathologists HQ Building, London Alie St Development, Architect, Location

Royal College of Pathologists Headquarters Building

HQ Building on Alie Street in Whitechapel, East London design by Bennetts Associates, UK

16 Mar 2016

New Administrative Headquarters for the Royal College of Pathologists in London

Architect: Bennetts Associates

Bennetts Associates wins planning for its third project for the Royal College of Pathologists

Bennetts Associates’ new administrative headquarters for the Royal College of Pathologists has been granted planning permission. Located on Alie Street in Whitechapel, Bennetts Associates’ design replaces an existing 1980s office building and will become the new home for the College, enabling it to realise its future objectives in advancing the science and the practice of pathology.

image from architect

A double height reception area with an exposed, coffered concrete soffit provides a dramatic entrance space for the building that will be used primarily by the College and potentially for a number of external events. The ground to fifth floors comprise flexible office space, a library, meeting rooms and a 200-seat conference room whilst also allowing the College space for future expansion. On the sixth floor the building is stepped back, creating a flexible, open plan pavilion with panoramic views over London.

The building’s façade is expressed with brick piers and deep-set windows. Legibility is maintained in the façade by using concrete string courses at each floor level and by varying the scale of the brick piers at ground level to reflect the double-height entrance space that sits behind them. The sixth floor pavilion is stepped back from the rest of the building and clad in zinc to clearly differentiate it from the floors below.

Simon Erridge, Director at Bennetts Associates, said:
“This is our third project for the Royal College of Pathologists and comes over 20 years after we worked on the refurbishment of its previous HQ, Two Carlton House Terrace. The new building will provide the College with flexible, environmentally efficient spaces that will allow it to continue to advance its valuable research and provide public education services and programming.”

In line with the College’s brief, the building is targeting a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. The thermal mass of the exposed concrete frame will be used to regulate heating and cooling, and the building has been designed to ensure the basement slab of the existing building can be reused. On the south elevation to North Tenter Street the shape and size of the brick piers has been manipulated to provide solar shading, whilst controlling daylighting and views from the office spaces.

Bennetts Associates previously restored the Regency interiors of the College’s Carlton House Terrace headquarters in 1993 and in 2003 completed a new education centre within the previously unused basement. The practice also completed the Royal College of Ophthalmologists’ headquarters in 2015.

Royal College of Pathologists HQ – Building Information

Project team:
Client: Royal College of Pathologists
Architect: Bennetts Associates
Project Managers: CBRE
Structural Engineers: Waterman Group
Cost Consultant: Equals Consulting
Acoustic Consultant: Sandy Brown Associates
Service Engineers: Troup, Bywaters and Anders

About Bennetts Associates

Bennetts Associates is one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, with more than 140 awards for a wide variety of projects.

The firm’s ethos is based on architecture that is timeless, humane and elegant. Its work is always meticulously executed and has pioneered long-term sustainability across many sectors.

Projects undertaken by the practice cover have ranged from around £1m to £200m, including newbuild, refurbishment and restoration of listed buildings. Bennetts Associates is responsible for many prominent projects such as Hampstead Theatre, Edinburgh University’s Potterrow Development, Jubilee Library in Brighton, the New Street Square Development in the City of London, the Gateway Buildings at St Antony’s College in Oxford and the design of the Stirling Prize shortlisted transformation of the Grade II listed Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The London Borough of Camden’s new headquarters at King’s Cross, completed by Bennetts Associates in 2014 won the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building award at the 2015 BCI Awards. Bennetts Associates is a founding member of the UKGBC and is especially well-regarded for its pioneering work on sustainability. The practice is involved in research, conferences and government committees associated with sustainability and the wider construction sector.

Twitter: @BennettsAssocs Website: www.bennettsassociates.com

Royal College of Pathologists Headquarters Building in Whitechapel image / information from Bennetts Associates

Bennetts Associates

Location: Alie Street, Whitechapel, London, England, UK