Bungalow 8

Structural alterations to provide space for an exclusive nightclub in the St Martin’s Lane Hotel.

With a prestigious New York members club opening its doors in London, the prospect of being part of a team to provide such a cutting edge space was very exciting. The scheme involved the alteration of the existing structure of the St Martin’s Lane Hotel to provide new floor space for the club. Works included the removal of a mezzanine and ground floor concrete slab and design of the temporary works. Any alterations to the concrete slabs and columns needed to meet architectural requirements.

In order to maximise the height available in the club, a minimum depth slimflor construction was chosen, which also allowed for long spans and easy service distribution. The brief amounted to providing floors and a plant mezzanine in 11m, so space was at a premium. A slimflor construction was adopted that served two purposes, firstly to minimise the structural zone and secondly to temporarily prop the basement retaining wall during construction eliminating the need for extravagant temporary works.

The entrance to the club is through the foyer of the St Martin’s Lane Hotel, offering a degree of privacy for its members. It was therefore necessary to construct the club’s new ground floor slab at a higher level to allow level access to the hotel. The design also had to ensure that noise and vibration from the club was kept to an absolute minimum, so that hotel guests would remain unaffected by this new venture.