{"id":517503,"date":"2025-04-17T12:14:18","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T11:14:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?p=517503"},"modified":"2025-04-22T12:43:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T11:43:50","slug":"building-shops-offices-and-a-basement-club-on-oxford-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/project-reports\/building-shops-offices-and-a-basement-club-on-oxford-street-17-04-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Building shops, offices and a basement club on Oxford Street"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Scheme:<\/strong> The Ribbon
\nClient:<\/strong> CBRE
\nMain contractor:<\/strong> Wates
\nArchitect:<\/strong> Orms
\nContract value:<\/strong> \u00a380m
\nContract type:<\/strong> JCT Design & Build
\nStart date:<\/strong> March 2024
\nCompletion date:<\/strong> Q3 2025
\nDemolition subcontractor:<\/strong> Erith
\nSteelwork subcontractor:<\/strong> Billington Structures
\nConcrete subcontractor:<\/strong> Careys
\nPrecast manufacturer:<\/strong> Thorp Precast
\nEnergy consultants:<\/strong> Cundall<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Wates is adding a mixed retail and office space \u2013 plus basement nightclub \u2013 to the UK\u2019s most famous heritage shopping street<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Oxford Street in central London is an area steeped in history. Built by the Romans, it was notorious until the 18th century as a thoroughfare towards the Tyburn gallows, and later became a centre for dressmaking and fashion. Most now think of Oxford Street as a retail nirvana, albeit one recently blighted by an oversupply of American candy stores. It might now gain new recognition for all the big-ticket construction projects dotting its length, encouraged by the arrival of Crossrail and a post-pandemic verve to bring people back to city centres.<\/p>\n

One of these projects is the Ribbon, a retail-led mixed-use building, named in homage to the site\u2019s dressmaking history. Various design features reflect that tradition, including the rich colours of the facade, for which architects Orms drew inspiration from fabric. When CN<\/em> visits, main contractor Wates is more than halfway through the 18-month-long project, which it is delivering for client CBRE and funding firm M&G.<\/p>\n

The Ribbon may have been designed to blend in with Oxford Street\u2019s fine heritage buildings, but the way it is being constructed is anything but traditional. The building\u2019s nine storeys and two split basement levels are enclosed by a mixture of steel frame, cast in-situ reinforced concrete, composite floor slabs and precast concrete.<\/p>\n

Heading the development for Wates is project director Jack Nesbitt. He cut his teeth managing numerous schemes across London, including transforming an ageing art deco cinema in Chelsea into a modern retail offering. Nesbitt\u2019s next challenge is to deliver around 2,500 square metres of prime retail space, 7,500 square metres of office space with bike storage, showers and changing rooms, plus a basement nightclub.<\/p>\n

The nightclub was added to the scheme as a planning requirement, after mayor Sadiq Khan in 2018 objected to the loss of the Scandal venue that formerly occupied the site. As it was added relatively late in the process, the nightclub forced a rethink over the building\u2019s original design.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to play a little with the layout of the plant areas, which would normally have been in the basement space. After some design gymnastics, we settled on air-handling units on each floor, maintaining the existing UK Power Networks substation in the Wells Street pavement vaults and providing a new substation for the development,\u201d explains Nesbitt.<\/p>\n

Specialist contractor Erith demolished the existing structure and constructed the basement box. The team installed continuous flight auger (CFA) piles of 600-750mm diameter beneath the columns and core to depths of 20 metres beneath basement formation level. Perimeter retaining walls were built using 750mm diameter CFA secant piles.<\/p>\n

Piling was considered more suitable than a raft foundation, because having a relatively small number of columns throughout the frame concentrates high loads in just a few locations.<\/p>\n

In all, almost 5,500 cubic metres of concrete has been used to form the basement structure and core, with 900 tonnes of structural steel composing the frame. From ground-floor level, the slabs are metal-decking and reinforced concrete composite.<\/p>\n

The building\u2019s facade is striking. In a departure from the standard yellowy \u2018London Stock\u2019 bricks that predominate across the capital, the Ribbon is cloaked in a reddish-brown brick slip, cast into the precast concrete units that clad its frame. The effect is visually stunning. Staffordshire-based specialist manufacturer Thorp Precast has done the concept justice \u2013 there are none of the sometimes glaringly obvious joints between adjacent units, and no differences in brick tone from one unit to the next. It looks like a team of master bricklayers have been brought in at great expense, which is not always the case with brick-slip-clad precast facades.<\/p>\n

These brick-concrete hybrid panels weigh as much as 20 tonnes. They were lifted in by the two tower cranes that initially served the project from the tiny pit lane delivery zone, situated in Wells Street. The project team has now reduced the number of cranes to one, increasing its jib length to 55 metres so it reaches further across the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a section of precast facade that is left out to accommodate the hoist, which helps us deliver loads to all the levels. But all the precast itself has been lifted into position by crane. We are trying to pre-load the upper floors with materials so that we can work efficiently,\u201d says Nesbitt.<\/p>\n

To help, the team has brought in specialist logistics company MadiganGill to manage deliveries to and from the site. It\u2019s no mean feat in this part of central London, which even on a weekday in January is exceptionally busy with both vehicle and pedestrian traffic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have been incredibly important to the work we are doing here,\u201d says Nesbitt. \u201cWe have worked with MadiganGill in the past and they make sure everything we need is brought to site safely and on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

When CN<\/em> visits, there are 240 workers on site, a number that will rise to 350 when interior work begins in earnest, ready to hit the project completion date in late autumn.<\/p>\n

Soon after, the Ribbon will open its doors to the shopping public and its offices to staff. With this modern, slick destination for credit-card waving devotees, a new phase of Oxford Street\u2019s long history may yet begin.<\/p>\n

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Ribbon ties in environmental performance<\/h3>\n

The Ribbon is targeting several environmental and wellbeing standards, governing both construction and operation. These requirements are slightly different for the retail and commercial elements of the building. The project team is aiming for a WELL v1 platinum rating and a NABERS 5 Star rating, along with BREEAM outstanding for the commercial areas of the building and excellent for the retail offering.<\/p>\n

Wates also has its own in-house performance requirements, including targeting a certain percentage of pre-manufacturing on each of its projects. At the Ribbon, the project team have managed to hit its 65 per cent target.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis hasn\u2019t happened because we have been pushed down the road by our customer \u2013 we have always had our own targets and aspirations,\u201d says Wates sustainability manager Peter Jones. \u201cWe are very happy to have hit the 65 per cent mark on this scheme. I think it is the optimum we could have achieved here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other moves to help reduce the embodied carbon on the scheme include using concrete with 50 per cent ground granulated blast-furnace slag and 20 per cent recycled coarse aggregate, porcelain floor tiles of 40 per cent recycled content and reusing raised access floor panels salvaged from another of its sites.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Precast tailored for Ribbon<\/h3>\n

Precast often tends to be reserved for schemes where there is repetition across the bulk of the units, enabling the teams back in the precast yard to work as efficiently as possible. But at the Ribbon there are no duplicate panels across the entire building. At all. Each one is slightly different to its neighbour.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur offer was always based on precast. Getting any repetition in on this scheme was challenging \u2013 you have to design to the structure you are trying to create. We couldn\u2019t find that repetition. Every single detail is bespoke,\u201d says Nesbitt.<\/p>\n

And while that decision might have helped create something of a headache back at the Thorp Precast yard in Staffordshire, for the Wates team it made perfect sense. \u201cIt enabled us and the client to have cost security. That cost security also meant that the second stage of the contract became predominantly internal work and we could progress to starting work on site earlier,\u201d explains Nesbitt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Barcelona measures up for curved glass<\/h3>\n

The distinctive glazing that can be seen from the junction of Oxford Street and Wells Street has been
\nan international effort. The 24mm thick, 4×6 metre, heat-strengthened curved glazing panels that will adorn the structure\u2019s most prominent corner are complicated to manufacture, posing a challenge for the Wates team in finding a local firm capable of producing them. Instead, the team looked further afield, to Barcelona-based Cricursa.<\/p>\n

To make the panels, Cricursa places flat plate glass onto moulds set to the desired curvature. This glass is then slowly heated to over 500\u00b0C, at which point the glass slumps onto the mould, forming the required shape. The glass is then left to cool slowly over time, which prevents it from fracturing<\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t get [the panels] manufactured in the UK. It is a difficult process of bending and then forming several layers of glass to create the final piece. The curve goes all the way up the building. It is one of its defining features, so we need to get it right,\u201d says Nesbitt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scheme: The Ribbon Client: CBRE Main contractor: Wates Architect: Orms Contract value: \u00a380m Contract type: JCT Design & Build Start date: March 2024 Completion date: Q3 2025 Demolition subcontractor: Erith Steelwork subcontractor: Billington Structures Concrete subcontractor: Careys Precast manufacturer: Thorp Precast Energy consultants: Cundall Wates is adding a mixed retail and office space \u2013 plus …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82076,"featured_media":517509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[559,557],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n