Osborne Awarded High End London Contract

The Hobhouse estate holding companies have awarded Osborne a £31m contract for the Arquitectonica-designed (in association with Brisac Gonzalez) mixed-use development on Whitcomb Street, next to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery’s Sainsbury Wing.
The project was successfully agreed through a negotiated second stage tender.

The design includes 20 high-end apartments, 1,100 m2 office and 650 m2 retail space. The redevelopment also foresees the return of the prestigious Royal Watercolour Society to their original home.

Osborne was invited to the project as a result of their successful delivery of the £22m Mercers Yard mixed use development in Covent Garden, where Deloitte was also involved.

Following demolition down to ground level, the new structure is built over existing load bearing listed vaults. Osborne has formed a team to develop the design in BIM and ensure the new structures are fully coordinated and informed by existing structures. The existing vaults have been 3D laser scanned and they are incorporated into the BIM design.

Ron Moir, Osborne Construction Board Director said; “There was a strong teamwork ethos and partnering approach with the Hobhouse customer, Alaska Developments and Deloitte to overcome a series of challenging constraints that included confined logistics, occupied properties fronting the internal court, the listed vaults and a complex 3D façade geometry. The project team looks forward to building on the collaborative approach with the client team and ensuring a successful project delivery.”

Osborne has appointed TPBennett architects and novated Thornton Tomasetti on structures and Max Fordham on services.