Falconer Chester Hall opens Soho office
ARCHITECTURAL practice Falconer Chester Hall has opened an office in London.
The Liverpool-based firm said that its new satellite office at Soho Square will be used to service existing client work in the capital, as well as for business development.
The practice has just been commissioned to work on a Soho Square project for Warrington-based logistics company Stobart Group.
This will involve the conversion of a Grade II-listed, five-storey Georgian town house into luxury apartments. The building had previously been used as office accommodation for the Bloomsbury publishing house for the last 20 years.
FCH’s conversion will create five two- and three-bedroom luxury apartments of approximately 1,600 sq ft each, with a residents’ entrance lobby and concierge from the quieter Carlisle Street. It will also contain 1,000 sq ft of commercial office space with its own ground floor entrance on Soho Square.
“The project involved close discussions and design development with Westminster conservation and planning team to secure the approval,” said FCH director Mark Doohan.
Work is due to begin on the conversion in mid-February, shortly after the completion of initial enabling works.
The firm has also recently been involved in designing a mixed-use scheme in Putney for Art Estates which has just gained planning approval. The scheme features 148 residential units, commercial offices, leisure space, new public realm and car parking in four new buildings.
A third FCH-designed project in the South East – the conversion of a flight training facility in Luton into a 120-bed hotel for Office Villages Ltd – is also now on site and well advanced.
“Winning work in the South East demonstrates our capacity to compete successfully for projects nationwide,” said . These have helped give us a presence in an extremely competitive marketplace in and around the capital,” said managing director Adam Hall.
FCH has increased staff numbers by around a third in recent years to 30 as it has developed a series of commercial and leisure schemes, including scores of hotel projects for developments undertaken by Office Villages and for the co-founders of Liverpool-based hotels operator Sanguine Hospitality, Paul Bolton and Simon Matthews-Williams.
The practice designed the Hotel
Indigo in Liverpool (right) 
for Sanguine and is currently undertaking hotel projects at Hoylake, Birmingham, Newcastle and Sheffield for the company, as well as working on various sites for Office Villages.
Both clients have taken advantage of tax breaks available under the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme relating to capital gains on projects to refurbish redundant office buildings into hotels.
Hall said the fact that its client base has always predominantly been commercial, private sector companies has meant that it is in a better position to grow than some of its competitors.
The 15 year-old firm has also established a strong reputation for itself in its home city, and is currently working on Benmore’s plans for a £30m mixed-use leisure scheme in Speke, Neptune Developments’ New Brighton scheme and Iliad Group’s 5-star boutique El Layla Hotel on Dale St.
