Inland Revenue offices
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Martine Hamilton Knight (website) Download Original
Transformation of a brownfield site into office space for 1,800 Inland Revenue staff spread over seven buildings
Seven separate buildings, in the form of courtyards and L-shaped blocks, are arranged along a curving spine road.
The office buildings were extensively pre-fabricated to meet a tight construction programme. The local bricks of the load-bearing piers were laid in a factory around steel lifting rods and support shallow barrel-vaulted concrete floor spanning the width of the building. The office buildings are capped with projecting lead-clad attics.
The amenity building has a fabric roof suspended from four raking steel masts and is placed centrally along the spine. It is both the visual and social centre of the complex, containing a multi-purpose sports hall, flanked by changing rooms on the ground floor and by a bar and restaurants on the balcony above.
At night the inherent thermal mass of the concrete is exploited and purged with fresh air to pre cool the structure. At the corners of the buildings, the air within the glass block stair towers warms and rises on sunny days, giving extra drive to the ventilation system.
Data
- Begun: 1992
- Completed: 1994
- Floor area: 39,000m2
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £54M
- Address: Howard House, Castle Meadow Road, Nottingham, NG2 1AB, United Kingdom
Professional Team
- Architect: Hopkins Architects
- Project architects: Alan Jones, Annabel Judd, Brendan Phelan, Brian Reynolds, Cari Wallet, Carol Painter, Catherine Martin, Charles Walker, Chris Wright, Guni Suri, Ian Sharratt, Jason Cooper, Jonathon Knight, Lydia Haack, Lynn Bacher, Max Connop, Nathan Barr, Pamela Bate, Paul Cutler, Peter Cartwright, Peter Romaniuk, Russell Baylis, Simon Fraser, Stephen Macbean, William Taylor
- Client: Inland Revenue
- Project manager: Turner and Townsend
- Lighting: Christian Bartenbach
- Main contractor: Laing Management
- Structural engineer: Arup
- Services engineer: Arup
- Quantity surveyor: Turner and Townsend
AJBL Sponsor
Armstrong World Industries
A global leader in providing customised, multi material ceiling and wall solutions