King Sturge to head NAO’s Victoria HQ refurb scheme

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Davis Langdon on board to transform former airport terminal into watchdog’s new offices

The government body in charge of critiquing public construction projects is embarking on a major scheme itself.

The National Audit Office is planning to fully refurbish its grade II-listed headquarters in Victoria, central London, at a cost of £77.44m. The body, which scrutinises public spending, has enlisted a team headed by lead advisor and project manager King Sturge to work on a design and cost plan for the project. The team also includes QS Davis Langdon, architect DEGW, consulting engineer Hoare Lea and structural and civil engineer Hurst Pearce & Malcolm.

The plan is to turn the 10-storey building into an open plan office with a more open front of house area on the ground floor. It was originally built in the 1930s and previously used as an air terminal to transport passengers to flying boats docked at Southampton airport.

The NAO confirmed that the Public Accounts Commission, the body that overseas the administration of parliamentary buildings, agreed this summer for the NAO to proceed with the scheme.

We are now preparing tender specifications for project managers and the full design team which we hope to have in place before Christmas
NAO spokesman

This followed a study carried out by the King Sturge-led team into options for the NAO in the last year. The commission published a 19-page report detailing the plan for the HQ building following its decision to back the scheme in July.

An NAO spokesman said: “We are now preparing tender specifications for project managers and the full design team which we hope to have in place before Christmas. King Sturge will be helping us to put the tenders together.”

The spokesman added that the body was in discussions with the Office for Government Commerce about decanting the NAO staff to other government buildings during construction.

Work is due to start on the project in January 2008 and finish in time for staff to return to the building, formerly called the Imperial Airways Empire Terminal, in the summer of 2009.