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Warmington House

London, UK

A multidisciplinary team from across º£½ÇÊÓƵ played a key role in the realisation of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club’s new stadium at White Hart Lane, creating a world class UEFA/FIFA compliant arena, significantly increasing stadium capacity and match day experience.

As part of the landmark redevelopment of the site, º£½ÇÊÓƵ was also appointed to provide structural, MEP and facade engineering advice in relation to the Grade II-listed Warmington House, one of the best kept examples of Georgian construction in London.

Warmington House was in the Heritage At Risk register before this transformational project fully restored the fabric and facades of the historic building and integrated it sympathetically into the new development.

Warmington House’s construction is believed to date from 1828 and was Grade II-listed in 1974 for retaining a number of original features of the Georgian Houses in Tottenham High Road.

Key structural challenges included ensuring the construction of the new stadium and visitor centre did not adversely impact the existing foundations for the Georgian property.

Prior to the intervention, Warmington House was in the Historic England ‘At Risk’ register. The intervention brought a new life to this important building, opening it up to the community and protecting it for future generations.

Warmington House sits as part of the Club’s flagship Tottenham Experience store, home to a contemporary art gallery dedicated to the relationship between art and football.

Challenge

Warmington House’s construction is believed to date from 1828 and was listed (Grade II) in 1974 for retaining a number of original features of the Georgian Houses in Tottenham High Road, one of the principal historic corridors into the capital.

The building was in a run-down state at the inception of the project and had been vacant for many years. The club, lead architect Populous and heritage architect F3, had an aspiration to not only retain the building, but bring the property back to its former glory, while integrating it into the new Tottenham Experience Centre, which includes the club gallery and shop.

The key challenges related to the retention and restoration of this historic building as part of an ambitious plan to integrate it sympathetically with new structures – both the new-build parts of the visitor experience centre, but also the neighbouring 62,000-seater stadium.

Key structural challenges included ensuring the construction of the new stadium and the new elements of the visitor experience centre did not adversely impact the existing foundations for the Georgian property.

Solution

Our integrated multi-disciplinary team with heritage expertise, including building surveyors, assisted the client, architect Populous and heritage architect F3 in the dialogue with the planning authorities and conservation officer. This included inspecting the existing fabric, supporting the procurement of specialist opening-up investigations, testing contractors, support with detailing and developing a performance specification for the envelope works.

Our engineers and surveyors initially assessed the building’s condition, including the timber structure, roof and facade construction. Our specialist conservation facade consultants inspected the windows, conducted condensation risk analysis and provided technical notes to support the request to replace front facade glazing with sympathetic slim double-glazed units fitted in the original frame rebates. Based on the evidence and clear explanation of constructive benefit provided, planning authorities accepted this alteration.

The team also provided technical advice on the suitable reconstruction of the roof and detailing required to enable new constructions to be abutted to the historic construction, without creating thermal bridges and increasing condensation risk.

The new development comprises cast iron and glass screens and roof abutting the Grade II-listed building for which an accurate study of materials and finishes – as well as precise detailing of the interface and movement joints – were paramount. The new glass elements allow the historic building to stand alone while being joined with the new elements – ensuring the Georgian architecture can be fully enjoyed within its new surroundings. But joints between the existing and new structures had to allow movement to account for elements such as strong wind conditions and expansion as a result of temperature fluctuations.

Our structural engineers also played a key role in studying the interface between the new and the old structural elements. The levels of the surrounding space needed to be excavated to enable the construction of the new buildings, exposing the Georgian foundations. We worked closely with geotechnical engineers to assess how close excavations could safely get to the building without undermining the foundations or causing any undue ground movement or overbearing the existing capacity of the foundations. This enabled the architects to minimise the threshold level differences between Warmington House and the new surrounding structures.

Our aim was to retain as much of the existing structure as possible, given its heritage value, but the restoration of the house did require some significant structural interventions, including the replacement of the upper floors and joists to support the new floor loads.

Another significant intervention was the incorporation of a new lintel at the rear of the property to enable a larger doorway, which would accommodate the large numbers of fans visiting the centre.

We took a fabric-first approach to the building services strategy, which was focused on incorporating only essential 21st century services – upgrading the electrics, but not adding any unnecessary plumbing into the original structure.

The project saw the conservation of many of the internal features, including the Georgian fireplaces, staircases and partitions.

Value

Now nestled within the new cast iron-clad Tottenham Experience Centre, Warmington House has been fully restored to its former glory and successfully removed from Historic England’s ‘At Risk’ register.

Our multidisciplinary team worked with lead architect Populous and heritage architect F3, overseeing the full external and internal restoration and making the building fit for 21st century use, whilst restoring and celebrating its many original features. Our experts helped to balance building performance with carefully considered restoration and heritage preservation at every stage.