Case Study: Guildhall Estate, London

Modern, high specification office accommodation on the Guildhall campus has transformed the working environment of the City of London Corporation with the consolidation of staff into two sites – the Guildhall and Walbrook Wharf.

Trench Farrow was appointed to project manage this complex project and provide overall project direction to the Chamberlain and to the Chair of Policy and Resources.

The first part of the project included re-fitting of three floors of the West Wing to provide modern office accommodation, the conversion of the disused Guildhall Justice Rooms into the City’s Data Centre and office accommodation for Information Technology staff, as well as the provision of an additional 17km of record and archive storage at the London Metropolitan Archive.

The interior of much of the building has been completely transformed from long dull corridors with cellular offices to a modern, open and bright business space.

The work entailed stripping back the building to a structural shell and is now air conditioned with energy efficient chilled beam cooling. The old entrances at each end of the building have been replaced with a grand central entrance leading to a contemporary reception and high specification meeting rooms.

Reoccupation of the building commenced in April 2008 immediately after the building was opened by the Lord Mayor.

Key Facts

The refurbished building provides 135,000sf of comfortable modern office accommodation.

The North Block was designed by Gilbert Scott in the 1930s although, due to the Second World War, the building was not actually constructed until the 1950s.

The Ground floor meeting rooms and the Chamberlain’s Court will have access to a new landscaped courtyard between the North Wing and the Guildhall.