BGY ID unveils members’ club turned hospitality-led workplace

Photography: Luca Piffaretti

Uniting property investment firm PATRIZIA’s real estate, infrastructure, and technology teams under one roof, BGY ID has completed its comprehensive retrofit of a former private members’ club in Covent Garden. Now PATRIZIA’s largest global location outside of its Germany-based HQ, the international hub was helmed by London architect Buckley Gray Yeoman’s interior design arm, BGY ID, and the colourful, hospitality-led workspace can host up to 200 employees.

Originally established in 1749 as St Paul’s Hospital, the H Club – officially known as The Hospital Club – came to have a storied history in the London creative scene. The film and recording studio in the building’s basement played host to a number of high-profile performers, including Radiohead, who used the space to record their album Rainbows in 2007. As ones of the largest in central London, this film and recording studio has been retained and continues to operate as part of the development – however, following BGY ID’s deep retrofit, the main building has found a second life as a contemporary, 48,000 sq ft office inspired by hospitality design. Despite fully modernising the five-storey property, the studio strove to respect and showcase the original architectural features, as the building lies within the Seven Dials Conservation Area.

Nodding to its history as a cultural hub for the creative industries (and reflecting PATRIZIA’s ethos of creating a welcoming, vibrant workplace culture) the new HQ features a broad range of hospitality facilities such as a conference room, private client lounge and landscaped roof terrace, as well as an in-house bar, restaurant and ground floor café. Carefully considered wellbeing amenities also include a gym, family room, contemplation room, and end of journey facilities (such as cycle parking, changing rooms and showers for those cycling or jogging into work) located on the ground floor.

Striving to take the project from ‘brown to green’, BGY ID practiced sustainable adaptive reuse; firstly, retaining the existing building dramatically reduced the embodied carbon in the construction of the office, which itself was targeting net zero. Over 200 pieces of original furniture and accessories from the H Club were kept and repurposed, including an original H Club chandelier, chairs, desks, artwork, photographic prints, lighting and even a DJ desk. Throughout construction, over 98% of on-site waste was recycled, while 50 local trees were additionally planted to support the offsetting of residual embodied carbon.

The project also features art prominently throughout, including bespoke pieces by prominent street artists including Remi Rough, Ben Eine, Unify, MADC and Soda. This focus on street art represents PATRIZIA’s support for the PAT Art Lab, a social enterprise promoting the impact of art in public spaces.