40 Pelham street, London SW7

Arches alongside street at night with lit up building visible through the arches with road and tree in foreground
CGI of building entrance garden
CGI of building work area
CGI of building reception area

A workplace conversion in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

40 Pelham street
Completion: 2026
Location: 40 Pelham street, London SW7
Client: Wellcome Trust
Size: 1,000m2

Overview

In 2021 JRA was approached to rework a workplace conversion scheme in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea for the Wellcome Trust that was over budget and proving logistically complex to build. The project comprised the redevelopment of a long and narrow urban site, occupied by a single two storey brick warehouse, into a campus of two buildings providing 929m2 of prime office space accessed through a communal landscaped garden – a unique offer within the local office marketplace.

The revised proposals retained over half of the existing structure, reducing costs and simplifying the logistics of the build without impacting quality. New structural elements have been formed in cross-laminated timber to reduce the scheme’s carbon footprint and a ‘fabric first’ approach adopted to minimise energy demand in use.

The East Building’s structural frame is being reclaimed whilst the West Building is being rebuilt using a structural timber frame that will incorporate a basement housing a ground source heating system and end of trip facilities serving the development.

Further enhancements to biodiversity, sustainable sourcing of materials and a low carbon servicing strategy aim to ensure the project exceeds the BREEAM Excellent target set by local authority.

The project is currently on site and due for completion in 2026.