Issue 46 April 25 web - Flipbook - Page 26
Stanton Williams completes
new mixed-use development
for the Mercers’ Company
Located in the heart of the City of London, on an exceptionally constrained and sensitive site, the
Whittington Building provides high quality office and retail space, whilst reinvigorating its surrounding
streetscape.
Stanton Williams' scheme replaces two poor quality
existing buildings adjacent to Mercers' Hall in the heart
of the City of London with a new five-storey mixed-use
development. The 36,000 sq. ft scheme offers high quality,
environmentally efficient office and retail space, with outstanding terraces and city views above and a revitalised
public realm at ground level.
facilities at street level. The scale and proportions of the
new arcade and colonnade are inspired by the historic
lanes and passages that dot the City of London.
The material chosen for the Ironmonger Lane elevation
is Portland stone, reflecting the materiality of the
surrounding buildings leading up from Cheapside. The
carefully detailed façade has a gentle curve that follows
the existing street, creating a sculptural form when viewed
from the Lane and establishing a vertical rhythm of
punched windows with a layering of deep reveals that
adds depth and movement. The upper floors are set back
to mediate between the more imposing scale of the
neighbouring Becket House and the smaller scale of the
adjacent 1910 Dauntsey House on the northern edge of
the site, where the Whittington Building turns the corner
into St Olave's Court and its materiality changes to a
handmade red brick sympathetic to its surroundings.
Intricately embedded in a sensitive site within the historic
Guildhall Conservation Area, the massing and materiality
of the Whittington Building has been informed by its
context, with each prospect carefully crafted to respond
to its immediate surroundings.
On Frederick’s Place, a new brick façade retains the
rhythm and scale of the surrounding Georgian buildings,
providing access to the offices above as well as to a new
public arcade at street level. Forming a new route through
what was previously a cul-de-sac, the new arcade
connects Frederick's Place to Ironmonger Lane, increasing permeability and facilitating pedestrian movement
between neighbouring streets.
The main reception area is accessible from both
Ironmonger Lane and Frederick's Place and features
timber panelled walls with terrazzo tiled floors and a sitespecific glass installation by artist Catherine Lee entitled
'A Cloth of Gold Bright Shoon', which was commissioned
by the Mercers’ Company through a Glaziers' Company
competition in 2022.
On Ironmonger Lane, the new arcade opens onto a new
public colonnade that runs the length of the new building,
allowing the narrow, intimate scale of Ironmonger Lane
to be retained while providing access to new retail
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Conservation & Heritage Journal
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