Restoration and rebuild of a Grade II listed building overlooking Grosvenor Gardens, to form 42 contemporary residences and seven retail units. A rear new build addition with two storey basement, facing onto Eaton Lane, will compliment the ornate original which retains the principle rooms and return flanks. Fossil fuel free, the heating and cooling will be entirely electric.

 

Client: Bain Capital Credit and CIT
Location: London
Size: Total: 13,722 sqm (residential: 11,599 sqm; retail: 1,533 sqm; wellness centre: 738 sqm)
Status: Under construction

 
 

Dating back to 1863, the building has an illustrious history as one of Belgravia’s prime addresses. Commissioned by the Marquess of Grosvenor, 8 Eaton Lane was first conceived as Belgrave Mansions, a private residential building with a number of boutiques at ground level. Home to many notable families of the time, Belgrave Mansions was developed around the continental idea of ‘Hôtel Meubles’; urban, centrally-located, serviced residences, the very first example of this style of living in London. In 1921, the building was reimagined as the Belgrave Hotel until the ‘30s, when it was used as office space and named Grosvenor Gardens House.

 
 
 

An arrival experience is created with a spacious entrance lobby leading to six floors of apartments, with duplex, penthouse apartments on floors five and six. A basement level wellness centre contains a 16 metre pool, spa, steam room, sauna, gym, treatment room, changing areas and screening room. Internal insulation will improve the buildings thermal performance. Heritage details will be carefully brought to life once more, and insertions to accommodate the modern ASHP heating and ventilation system are carefully designed and detailed.

 
 

Development by CIT Group, interiors by Millier, CGIs by V1.

 

The project returns the building once again to residential use with homes designed to perform to future insulation and energy use standards and needs.

Interiors are in collaboration with design studio Millier London. Exquisite spaces will marry the French renaissance architectural detail with an elegant, classically British sensibility.