Victoria House is located within the heart of the Knowledge Quarter in London. The project is aimed at addressing the shortfall in flexible laboratory enabled and incubator accommodation.
Victoria House was commissioned as the headquarters of the Liverpool Victoria Insurance Company and built in 1932. The architect was Charles William Long. The Grade II Listed building comprises 8 storeys with a basement and sub-basement. The core project involves converting the 250,000ft2 of existing office space into premium laboratory enabled space. Key design challenges included the integration of new heat pump plant to help the building towards reducing its running costs and carbon emissions.
With a construction value of over a £100 million, the completed scheme will provide over 300,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art office, laboratory, write-up, and amenity space. Phase One has already delivered 100,000 sq ft of dynamic incubator, grow-on, and specialist laboratory environments. Phase Two will complete the project, adding a further 200,000 sq ft of purpose-designed laboratory, workplace, and support spaces creating a new, highly sustainable centre for life sciences and breathing new life into this iconic building.
Working with a complex combination of listed heritage elements and substantial late 20th-century interventions, the design approach has celebrated the strengths of both.
The internal layouts of the building have been reimagined and reconfigured through a process of rationalisation - unlocking the potential of the existing structure to deliver best-in-class, highly adaptable floorplates finished to both CAT A and CAT B standards. Each level was carefully analysed and redesigned to accommodate its specific constraints and opportunities with specific service and structural strategies developed to ensure the building performs to high technical standards whilst delivering spaces that delight.
Sustainability and reuse are at the heart of our approach. The project is on track to achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating and will improve the original EPC D rating to a EPC B rating.
Over 95% of construction waste was recycled, with 98% diverted from landfill with single-use plastics eliminated during construction. Existing materials were reused extensively on site, and new materials were selected with equal care for their durability and visual quality.
Existing Heritage areas of the building have been sensitively restored to create contemporary meeting and touch down spaces and incorporate smart space technology and room booking services.
The following energy efficiency improvements have been made to bring the building up to best in class for the life science sector:
This project demonstrates how contemporary, creative, and sustainable design can unlock the potential of legacy buildings—delivering flexible, future-ready environments that exceed market aspirations.
Working in existing buildings of this scale required a robust exercise of site surveys, 3D scanning and clash detection workshops. With its Grade II Listed status, planning and listed building consent of all aspects of the works required thorough consideration.
The imposing heritage rooms are repurposed as meeting rooms and lecture spaces.