The Ribbon is a new nine storey commercial office development on the corner of Oxford Street and Wells Street in London’s West End.
The Ribbon is a new nine storey commercial office development on the corner of Oxford Street and Wells Street in London’s West End. There have been a number of developments on Oxford Street over the last decade, and the main contractor for this new building, designed by Orms Architects, was awarded to Wates.
An existing structure from the 1960s was demolished to make way for the new building which has a number of unique features. The building includes a large 21,000 square feet retail unit on Oxford Street, 70,000 square feet of Grade A office space on multiple floors, a roof terrace and a nightclub. The existing basement on the site was also deepened from one to two floors.
The passive design of the new building maximises the amount of natural sources of heating, cooling and ventilation, which will enable it to be net zero carbon in operation. The prominent and busy location of the site meant that a steel frame would maximise the efficiency of construction as it would require less foundations and pilings.
Two tower cranes were used to keep the construction programme on schedule. Working in a phased approach, Billington Structures supplied 1,000 tonnes of structural steelwork for the Ribbon and we erected it two floors at a time, working in partnership with the metal decking team, SMD.
The steel frame of the building has a regimented design, except on the four uppermost floors that incorporate steps to create terraces along Oxford Street and Wells Street. The fabricated cellular beams that will accommodate the building’s services within their depth are used throughout the project. The beams and columns will all be left exposed to create an industrial-looking office environment.
Once completed the building is targetting a number of environmental and wellbeing standards which include NABERs 5*, BREEAM Outstanding, Wiredscore Platinum, WELL Platinum, Smart Enabled, RESET Air (shell and core certification), and an EPC Rating A.
Throughout the construction of the Ribbon, education programmes on this project brought in a number of students. Work experience placements were also offered to promote support the future success of the construction industry.
