30 Golden Square, Soho, London WC1

JRA revitalised 30 Golden Square, a large office building located on the prominent, historic square in the Soho Conservation area. JRA optimised and increased the available space by 14% to provide larger, more efficient floor plates. The team enhanced the building amenities with an expansive communal roof terrace overlooking the square, as well as cycle storage and locker facilities. The street elevation has been remodelled and includes a contemporary new entrance and retail frontage. The completed building spans 2,880m2 of boutique style, modern offices. It achieved BREEAM Excellent as well as being designed to enable a WELL Platinum rating.

30 Golden Square is the former headquarters of Sony Pictures, who occupied the building between 2000 and 2023. The current structure, designed by architects Nimmo & Partners, replaced the former Associated British Pictures Corporation’s HQ that had previously stood on the site since the 1930s. The rich history of television and film associated with the building and local area, as well as early designers and residents dating back to the establishment of the square in 1700, is reflected in the retained public art above the ground floor windows. The bronze castings were created by renowned sculptor Giles Penny.

The building is situated immediately north of Piccadilly Circus on the historic Golden Square in Soho. The building sensitively responds to the neighbouring built environment, which is made up of red brick and Portland Stone buildings of varying heights and ages surrounding the landscaped public square.

JRA extended the building and enhanced the façade. Interventions included removing the plant screen at roof level to create an additional level of office, partially infilling the courtyard to the rear to increase the floorplates from ground to level five and the creation of new mansard roofs to the upper floors, echoing the character of the adjacent buildings while adding height.

JRA’s alterations to the existing façade included increasing the glazing to maximise natural light to the office floor plates and the creation of a new reception façade bay to provide a contemporary entrance. The interventions maintained the neutral colour palette used more widely across the historic square, including Portland Stone, dark grey aluminium spandrel panelling, and natural zinc cladding.

The renewed entrance to 30 Golden Square is distinguished by the striking façade panel above the entrance of bronzed hexagonal web mounted in front of a dichromatic mirrored glass providing depth through reflections. The surrounding lighting, by GIA Equation, further enhances the building’s presence on the square and JRA has created a new flexible retail unit at the corner of the site.

The ground floor reception and lobby has been reconfigured to create a spacious entrance with a bespoke reception desk, giving way to a lobby with a central collaboration table as its focal point, and a mixture of touchdown work and lounge areas. The film and media heritage of the building is echoed in the styling and accessories, incorporating cinema inspired bulb lighting, neon signage, and film books. The colour palette running throughout the space is of rich art deco greens, blues, and metallics.

30 Golden Square now offers eight floors of CAT A office space totalling 2,739 sqm. The floors are flooded with natural daylight from the renewed glazing and served by new, efficient services.

JRA provided unrivalled outdoor space as a building amenity, including terraces to floors four, five, and six with metal railings mirroring those in the central square. At roof level, JRA created an expansive roof terrace accessible to the entire building, offering panoramic views of the surrounding city. The terrace features an outdoor bar, work touchdown areas, lounge seating, trees and illuminated planters.

At the base of the building, JRA designed premium end-of-trip facilities with shower and changing amenities, bike storage and electric charging stations.

JRA’s refurbishment at 30 Golden Square is exceptionally sustainable, positioned in the top 10% of projects of its kind. The team’s interventions reduced the building’s CO2 emissions by an estimated 62%, or 58 tonnes per year, and the project achieved BREEAM Excellent. Contributing factors included extensive reuse of the building fabric, new upgraded cores with a decentralized energy efficient air conditioning system, and green roof with wild grass and flowers.