Tintagel House, The Office Group (TOG)’s new flagship flexible workspace on Albert Embankment in Vauxhall, has opened following a major refurbishment by architects Stanton Williams and interior design by Universal Design Studio. Acquired by TOG in 2015 and their largest project to date, the building will offer 95,000 sq ft of serviced office and co-working space, and a wealth of communal spaces including a café, bar, gym, lounge and kitchens.

Built in 1960 and occupied by the Metropolitan Police for half a century, Tintagel House continues to stand out on Albert Embankment, an area that has changed dramatically over the past decades and, with the adjacent Nine Elms Development rapidly taking shape, will continue to do so. A new hub for entrepreneurs and independent businesses, Tintagel House will generate further diversity in the area and contribute to the energy and activity of the revived neighbourhood.

Stanton Williams has transformed the existing 12-storey office block into a flexible setting for a variety of work styles, creating affordable office space and ancillary supporting facilities. The project adopts a sustainable approach, expanding and improving the existing office accommodation with the creation of generous communal spaces in the new extension at ground and first floor, as well as the conversion of the panoramic top floor.

The ground and first floors have been expanded to activate the frontage and engage both visually and physically with the public space around the building, to create an open and welcoming approach. This new extension allows for generous communal spaces where the building’s occupiers can come together, share facilities and interact with the wider community, a fundamental aspect in TOG’s approach to the provision of shared work space. The larger floor plates are better suited to open-plan, flexible layouts and can be easily accommodated and reconfigured over time, future-proofing the building.

The existing top floor plant has been largely removed and the elegant ‘floating canopy’ roof has been converted as office space and a rooftop bar and terrace which makes the most of the prominent riverside location with spectacular views across to Westminster and up and down the River.

The relationship between the external open space and the interior of the building is mediated by the introduction of two-storey colonnades which give civic character to the previously introverted lower levels of Tintagel House, while at the same time creating a sense of enclosure and providing private amenity for building users in the form of external terraces along the riverside.

The material palette of facing brick and glazed tiles of the new façade references the original concept of the building, as well the site’s history of pottery and glazed ceramic production, most notably the presence of the Vauxhall Pottery, active in the area between the 17th and the 19th century.