1 Portsoken Street, London

Work begins to soften brutalist building in heart of London’s financial district

We’re helping Oktra, the UK’s leading office design company, refurbish the ground floor of the former Lloyds Chambers Building at 1 Portsoken Street.

When complete, the building will provide modern office spaces and retail units. More importantly, it will create high-quality spaces that will make a positive contribution to the area and deliver significantly improved amenities.

Love it or hate it, the building – with its sandblasted concrete panels – is a reminder of the brutalist architectural style favoured by architects in the 1980s. Our challenge is to refresh the dated aesthetic and create a healthy and creative working environment for future occupants.

Our design retains the concrete but softens the look, combining it with modern materials such as perforated metal panels that will wrap around the loading bay, cycle parking area and secondary entrance foyer.

We’re also bringing the main entrance up to date, and creating new public space at the front of the building. New retail spaces on the ground floor are designed to bring the neighbourhood to life.

  • Close collaboration with client from Day One to ensure brief is met
  • New entrance, improved office space and modern retail frontage
  • Bright and inviting outside spaces designed to minimise anti-social behaviour

“We’ve enjoyed working with the team at Oktra to redevelop 1 Portsoken Street and ensure it reclaims its status as a vital part of the local neighbourhood. Small changes such as improving accessibility and introducing cycle parking are modern touches that will have a lasting impact on visitors and users of the building.”

Federica Di Vincenzo, Senior Architect, Box Architects