124 Theobalds Road

Click here to have your say

Welcome to the project website for 124 Theobalds Road

We are planning to refurbish Mercury House at 124 Theobalds Road.

The refurbishment aims to enhance the existing qualities of the building, by removing poorly designed modern extensions and making minor external changes that have been sensitively designed to ensure minimal impact on our neighbours.

Our proposals include:

Refurbishing the existing building to deliver new high-quality office space.

Improving the rear service yard, creating an attractive landscaped garden, and reducing and covering the servicing area.

Removing low quality 1990s additions to the building.

Sensitively extending the front central façade and creating a new entrance to the building which will include trees and planting.

Opening a new café, open for the local community to enjoy.

Providing better private amenities within the building with a basement cycle store, showers, a gym and a communal rooftop terrace.

We are preparing a planning application for these changes to the building, but first would like to hear from local residents and businesses on our proposals.

Introduction

124 Theobalds Road was built in 1955 as the headquarters for Cable & Wireless and was known as Mercury House.

In 1990, the building was refurbished, including several low-quality additions.

Mediacom moved to the building in 2006.

1 Entrance to front

2 Balcony and roof to front

3 5th floor enclosure

4 Atrium

5 Plant enclosure roof

Responding to feedback

We undertook focussed public consultation before finalising our designs for the refurbishment, in line with national and local requirements. We engaged with the Council, key local representatives and the local community to gather feedback and enable issues and concerns to be addressed prior to the submission of the planning application. We updated local representatives once the application had been submitted for planning with a summary of feedback and how we responded to comments.

You can view our consultation material here and view our full Statement of Community Involvement here.

We listened to the comments received and acted on feedback:

  • We consulted people on ground floor uses, including the possibility of a café space on the frontage with Theobalds Road. This was supported by elected representatives and public attendees, so this element was included in the final proposals.
  • Some consultees said that they did not like the 1990s additions to the building, and were pleased that we were considering removing these as part of the proposals. The removal of these more modern building elements were included in the final plans.
  • Some people asked us to ensure that construction disruption was minimised. We have incorporated this feedback through the creation of our Construction Management Plan, and will continue to engage with residents to ensure that disruption is kept to a minimum.

Have your say

The period for feedback has now closed. If you wish to let us know your thoughts, please email us at mercuryhouse@quatro-pr.co.uk.

124 Theobalds Road