21 OCTOBER 2020

390 Strand, London.

Project Summary:

Location: London
Sector: Office
Client: Legal & General
Architect: Garnett & Partners
Main Contractor: Colins Contruction
Services Consultant: Milieu Consult
M&E Contractor: EDGE Design & Build
Value: £38K
Duration: 5 months
Size: 6,700 sq. ft
Photography: Tony Maclean

The latest addition to Legal and General’s network of Capsule workspaces, 390 Strand in London offers approximately 6,700 sq ft of contemporary ready to occupy flexible office accommodation. Good location is a key to all Capsule workspaces and 390 Strand can definitely boast excellent connectivity to Central London and all it has to offer.

The trendy CAT A+ refurbishment was designed by the award winning London based architectural practice Garnett & Partners who were tasked with repositioning the 1970’s building into a contemporary work space.

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.
Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.
Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

First recorded in 1185, The Strand forms a connection between Westminster and the City of London and as a home to three major theatres it has been predominantly known as London’s entertainment zone. Situated on the north side of the Strand and built between 1970’s and previously called The Centric House, 390-391 Strand is a 6 storey brutalist style building with bold concrete potted ceilings throughout.

THE KEY OBJECTIVES.

In April 2019, the award winning architectural practice Garnett & Partners were appointed as the lead architect on the redevelopment of the scheme. The key objective was to reconfigure the space on each floor, creating 8-20 workstations, meeting room and breakout areas with a kitchenette per floor. The refurbishment was carried out by Collins Construction. Following the architect’s brief, the works included the floor space reconfiguration, new vertical lift as well as a facade upgrade and new services throughout.

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

Inspired by our work on the Glen House project, the architectural studio approached our team in June 2019 with a lighting design specification. Working closely with the architect, the main contractor and the M&E contractor, 299 Lighting became an integral part of the design team. Taking part in site meetings followed by a full office lighting design and calculations, we took care of  the lighting specification for the entire office space and staircase. The scheme was set to achieve the current BCO Guidelines on Lighting, maximising the use of day light where possible. In total, 20 hours of lighting design were used to support this project. 

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

THE DESIGN BRIEF.

Meeting current lighting standards (the BCO Lighting guide) was only part of the story. The design brief was driven by the raw fabric of the building. With the concrete coffered slabs being such a dominant feature of the scheme, the office lighting had to work with the new interior design enhancing the beautiful interplay between the exposed brickwork and services, large statement windows and contemporary furnishing, all framed in dark colours.

The floor plan layout is almost identical across the 6 floor plates, offering studio space, private meeting room, breakout area, kitchenette and toilet, with most of the workplace area framed in the concrete coffered slabs. To keep the complex ceiling uncluttered and the interior design consistent across the entire scheme, the designer’s favourite Rio Suspended Direct/Indirect was used for the general office lighting.

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

Rio is the ultimate performance driven linear lighting with a contemporary clean-cut design, instantly recognisable by its minimalist suspension kit. Proven and tested, it provides comfortable lighting for the user and the direct/indirect light distribution lends a visually dramatic look and feel to the space. The Rio linear profiles were specified in several standard sizes and equipped with micro prismatic diffuser and PIR sensors.

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.
Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.
linear-lighting-cat-a-office-min
Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

All linear lighting was specified and supplied in a contemporary matte black finish, enhancing the contemporary dark colour scheme of the interior design. 
The Rio luminaires were supplied as DALI dimmable equipped with integrated PIRs for energy saving and automated switching. Integrated  emergency lighting was supplied in some luminaires following the emergency lighting design.

Office lighting for a CAT A fitout with concrete coffered slabs at 390 Strand, London.

The final result is an outstanding ready to occupy CAT A+ workplace designed with attention to detail. The office lighting is part of the bold interior design, enhancing the architectural beauty and the fabric of the building. With the carefully curated colour scheme and distinctive interior design, 390 Strand stands up to the brand promise of delivering a well located, contemporary capsule workspace attractive to tenants looking for flexible office accommodation.

Project in figures:

20 Design hours

20 Design hours were allocated to the interior lighted design for this project

6 Floors

390-391 Strand is a six storey brutalist style building with bold concrete potted ceilings throughout.

5 Months

From initial project brief through to delivery.

Products used in this project:

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