London Fire Brigade HQ

Refurbishment and extension of the Grade II-listed London Fire Brigade’s headquarters at Albert Embankment on the River Thames.

London Fire Brigade HQ

Refurbishment and extension of the Grade II-listed London Fire Brigade’s headquarters at Albert Embankment on the River Thames.

Client. London Fire Brigade
Location. London
Value & Size. £100 million / 110,000 sqft
Services. Architecture / Interiors
Status. On-Going

We have recently completed the design for the Planning Application and Listed Building Consent for the new Headquarters for London Fire Brigade and the redesign of Lambeth Fire Station, along with the provision of an events and exhibition venue incorporating the London Fire Brigade Museum, on the site of the Grade II Listed former London Fire Brigade HQ building at 8 Albert Embankment, Lambeth.

The 100,000 sqft project implements a key strategic policy, providing for a new home for LFB in anticipation of their move away from their current Headquarters on Union Street, Southwark. The adaptation and significant alteration of the Listed buildings includes the redesign of Lambeth Fire Station, and the upgrade of this station in line with LFB Privacy for All policies, along with general modernisation to suit contemporary operational needs. The major workplace element of the scheme has been informed by many months of consultation, working with Henigan Consulting Group on the development of a Strategic Brief for a new workplace strategy for HQ teams. The events and exhibition space, to include the London Fire Brigade Museum, provides a much-needed assembly facility for both internal and external use, enabling staff from the wider LFB estate, including 103 fire stations, to congregate. The facility will also provide opportunities for greater community engagement and outreach.

The project has been conceived with great sensitivity to the Listed Building but is not without proposing appropriate and fairly radical intervention to provide for a series of new and flexible building environments to suit the future occupants across the various uses. The project also strives to meet the wider ambition for LFB and GLA for a Net-Zero operational carbon facility. The proposal represents the optimum saving in embodied carbon when compared to an alternative new build option that was also explored in the preparation of the final brief.

Notwithstanding the technical and physical proposals, the building at 8 Albert Embankment, constructed in 1937, was the original 20th Century home for London Fire Brigade, and during the Blitz in London the building became highly symbolic of the crucial role of LFB in the protection of the community across the city. The return of the Brigade to its original purpose-built HQ will be a beautifully symbolic event, befitting the role and status of both the building, and the historic institution more widely.