Firm appoint architect T P Bennett on sustainable refurbishment scheme
Turner & Townsend has been appointed lead consultant on a £35m overhaul of the National Audit Office in Victoria, London.
The firm, which is acting in a project management role on the scheme, has appointed T P Bennett as architect.
The financial watchdog is completely re-vamping its Grade II listed building opposite Victoria coach station, with a special focus on a sustainable refurbishment.
T&T and T P Bennett will effectively rip out the interior of the building and re-fit it.
A spokesperson from the NAO said: “Sustainability is very high on the agenda. We are looking at the highest BREAM rating. As it is a listed building the changes will be mostly refurbishment.”
Last June, the NAO submitted a concept design report to the Public Accounts Committee at Parliament.
This was put together by a different project team, lead by King Sturge and which included architect DEGW, consultant Davis Langdon and Hoare Lea as consulting engineers.
The NAO asked the King Sturge team to consider specific environmentally friendly features including grey water harvesting, ground water cooling, solar panels and photovoltaic cells and wind turbines.
However, the team concluded that due to a combination of difficulties around the building structure and planning approvals that none of these features would be feasible.
The watchdog is currently looking for sub-consultants to work on the project.
It is understood some of the NAO staff will move to a different building in the area in the new year, when work is expected to start on site.
No comments yet