Birmingham’s £30 million Baskerville House refurbishment scheme has reached completion. Located in the heart of the city, overlooking Centenary Square, Baskerville House offers 195,108 sq ft of grade A office space.
Baskerville House is one of the city’s most prominent buildings and is Grade II listed. It was designed in 1939 as municipal offices and named after the famous Birmingham type-founder and printer John Baskerville. The original five storey building has been extended and now has seven storeys with a dramatic glazed roof creating an additional two office floors with open, light floorplates and superb views across the city.
The interior features high specification floorplates wrapped around two glass atria created at the heart of the building that allow light from the glass roof to enter the space.
Commissioned by Targetfollow, Hoare Lea has provided specialist mechanical, electrical, lift, public health, fire, lighting and acoustic design services, working directly for the client and the main contractor.
Key features implemented by Hoare Lea include a chilled ceiling and chilled beam system, displacement ventilation via a pressurised floor void, full daylight and presence detecting lighting controls, voice evacuation fire alarm system and a comprehensive security system.
Hoare Lea Lighting was commissioned to create an external lighting scheme to accentuate the building’s imposing listed façade, and an internal scheme to complement the grand double height reception and atrium areas.
Specialist fire engineering services were provided by Hoare Lea Fire. The design has allowed an increase in occupant density and achieved an economical fire engineering solution using phased voice evacuation and forced atrium ventilation.
Baskerville House has been recognised by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method – BREEAM – as achieving best practice in environmental design to a highly commended ‘Very Good’ rating.