Wellington Buildings, Liverpool

Strand Securities

A development site comprising of three separate plots comprising of Wellington Buildings on the Strand, Bentley Buildings on the corner of the Strand & Brunswick Street and a vacant site at the junction of Brunswick Street & Drury Lane. The site wasn’t without its challenges; it was in a Conservation Area within the World Heritage Site boundary and was in very close proximity to the Three Graces.

Wellington Buildings was a period office building that was reaching the end of its useful life; problems included significant corrosion of its aging steel frame. The adjacent Bentley Buildings were similarly challenged.

The brief entailed combining the three sites to create a 5-star hotel of circa 270 keys with spa, ballroom, events and banqueting facilities; a small number of penthouse apartments on top of the hotel and a 2000m² office building.

The adopted solution articulates the hotel and office uses in two individual forms that didn’t follow the traditional typology of the area, which was based on perimeter developments that fill entire city blocks. The proposal placed the hotel on the Strand, addressing, but clearly subservient to, the rear of the Three Graces. The hotel strengthened the weak Brunswick Street corner with the office building sat at the rear of the site addressing Drury Lane.

The building shied away from a cliché entirely crystalline glass building favouring a more contextually appropriate base, middle and top using Portland Stone with a double height order unitised glazing system.