Fluted engineered stone cladding and glass balustrades on the three new upper storeys above the original Art Deco stone corner of Axtell House, Soho

Axtell House. Engineered stone and frameless glass balustrades. Soho, London W1B.

The team behind Dmitro Development clad the three rebuilt upper storeys of an Art Deco office building in Soho in engineered stone, and fitted their frameless glass balustrades.

01 · The rebuilt upper storeys above the carved stone corner of Axtell House.

At a glance

Main contractor
RED Construction
On site
24-week package, 2018
Location
Warwick Street, Soho · London W1B
Architect
Darling Associates
Building
16,340 sq ft of offices

Shackerley made the stone and Balconette the glass. The team installed both, agreeing the stone programme with Shackerley and working the balustrade design through with architect Darling Associates.

Part of: Facade packages

Stepped bays of fluted cream engineered stone, deep-set windows and a glass balustrade above the carved Art Deco stone corner of Axtell House

02

Cream engineered stone, chosen to sit with the Portland-stone look of the original building.

What the team installed

  • 01Shackerley SureClad engineered stone panels
  • 02The stone skirting wall
  • 0380 m of Balconette SG12 frameless glass balustrade
  • 04Junctions with mansard windows, curtain walling and metal cladding
Close-up of cream engineered stone panels with vertical fluting, meeting at a horizontal joint in low sunlight

03

Fluted panels meeting at a horizontal joint.

Fluted cream engineered stone bays turning a corner of Axtell House, with the glass balustrade and top-floor windows above against blue sky

04

Fluted bays turning the corner beneath the top-floor glass.

The stone

More than 100 panel and detail types for three storeys.

Each panel was CNC-cut with flutes 35 mm wide and 15 mm deep, and the complex pieces arrived prefabricated with stainless-steel undercut anchors. The largest measured 1,732 × 925 mm.

The team hung the panels on SureClad horizontal rails and took each delivery just in time: access was restricted and there was almost no storage on site.

  • Panel thickness20 mm and 30 mm
  • Fire classificationA2, BS EN 13501-1

Where the stone meets metal and glass

The fluted stone closing against the glazed corner bay, the curtain walling and the anodised fins of the top floor.

Low view of fluted engineered stone meeting a tall bronze-framed glazed corner bay, with the glass balustrade above, at Axtell House

05

Fluted stone against the bronze-framed glazed bay at the corner.
Stepped engineered stone bays above carved Art Deco stonework, with a bronze-finned top floor and glass balustrade set back above, at Axtell House

06

Stone bays below, the finned top floor set back behind glass.
The tall bronze-framed glazed corner bay of Axtell House against the sky, with fluted engineered stone at its base and a glass balustrade to the right

07

The glazed bay's bronze reveal against the sky.
A row of bronze-toned anodised metal fins beside tall windows on the top floor of Axtell House, reflecting neighbouring brick buildings

08

Anodised fins alongside the glazing of the top floor.
The full width of the rebuilt upper storeys of Axtell House: stepped engineered stone bays with bronze fins above a yellow-brick elevation

09

Stepped stone bays across the full width of the brick elevation.

Each bay frames a deep window with bronze-toned fins, above the retained brick floors.

The terraces

Frameless glass guards the terrace edges, opposite the stone piers and bronze fins of the new floors. The roof garden above was other teams' work.

Fluted engineered stone piers, window reveals and stepped copings on the upper storeys of Axtell House, looking down a Soho street under blue sky

10

Looking down the street past the stone-clad bays of the new floors.
Cream engineered stone piers with fluted returns and deep window reveals running along the upper terrace of Axtell House, a tower in the distance

11

Stone piers and deep window reveals along a terrace.
Close view of the edges of frameless glass balustrade panels on a terrace at Axtell House, with Soho mansard roofs behind

12

Frameless glass edges, with no posts between panels.
A frameless glass balustrade running along a terrace edge at Axtell House, with Soho buildings and sky beyond

13

The balustrade running above the neighbouring roofs.
A decked terrace at Axtell House with bronze-toned fins on one side and a frameless glass balustrade on the other

14

Glass balustrade and decking beside the finned top floor.
A roof garden at Axtell House with olive trees in dark planters, pale paving and the London skyline beyond

15

The roof garden, designed by Andy Sturgeon Design.

The building

The Office Agents Society named Axtell House Best Delivered Scheme West End in 2022.

Axtell House is a locally valued building in the Soho Conservation Area. Westminster's planning committee backed its redevelopment in December 2016: floors four to six rebuilt, the core moved and a roof garden added.

To keep loads off the retained structure, the new floors were built as a steel frame with cross-laminated timber floors. RED Construction kept the ground-floor restaurant trading through demolition, piling and rebuilding. The structure topped out in March 2018 and the building was complete in spring 2019.

Design, construction and the finished interior

The design model, the rebuild under way and the finished interiors, shown for context: RED Construction's and other teams' work.

3D external model of Axtell House from above, showing stepped stone bays, a bronze-finned top floor and a planted roof garden

16

3D model of the design: stone bays, finned top floor and roof garden.
Axtell House under scaffolding during construction, above RED Construction's branded site hoarding, a worker in hi-vis at the top of the hoarding

17

The corner under scaffold behind RED Construction's hoarding.
Workers laying cross-laminated timber floor panels on a red steel frame at roof level of Axtell House during construction

18

Cross-laminated timber floor panels going onto the new steel frame.
An empty office floor at Axtell House with an exposed timber ceiling, dark steel beams, linear lights and deep window reveals

19

An office floor under the exposed CLT soffit and steel beams.
Lift lobby at Axtell House with dark lift doors, pale stone-effect walls and a brass-toned geometric stair screen and handrail

20

The lift lobby, with a brass-toned Art Deco stair screen.
Bronze-toned metal panels and blue-tinted glazing on a wall facing a narrow lightwell at Axtell House, brick buildings opposite

21

Metal cladding and glazing in a lightwell.

From the street

The new storeys seen from the surrounding streets and lanes, above the original stone corner and the yellow-brick elevation.

Looking up at the stone corner of Axtell House past a street lamp, with engineered stone bays stepping back along both elevations above

22

The original carved stone corner, seen past a street lamp.
The full height of Axtell House from street level, its original stone corner rising to the engineered stone storeys and glazed top floor

23

Street to roofline: the original stone and the new storeys as one elevation.
Axtell House at dusk at the end of a Soho street, its lit upper storeys above the stone corner, with black cabs in the road

24

Axtell House at dusk, its new upper floors lit.
Looking up a narrow Soho lane at Axtell House, its brick elevation topped by stepped engineered stone bays and a glass balustrade

25

From the lane, looking up to the stone bays above the brick.
Stepped engineered stone bays with bronze fins and deep windows on the upper storeys of Axtell House, above its yellow-brick floors

26

Bronze fins set into the stone window surrounds.
Axtell House from a Soho street strung with festoon lights, its engineered stone upper storeys complete above ground-floor hoarding

27

Stone and glass complete while ground-floor works carried on behind hoarding.

Axtell House, clad by the team.

23–24 Warwick Street, Soho · London W1B 5NQ

Client
E&A Property Investment Company
Structural engineer
FLUID Structures
Facade consultant
FMDC
Occupier
VF Corporation