THE TYPEWRITER BUILDING

140 Borough High Street, London SE1

Returning to Southwark to continue the beautification of Borough High Street we have designed the re-purposing, extension and restoration of The Typewriter Building.

The building takes its new name from its heritage as the headquarters of a leading office machinery business for whom it was built in 1957 by Richard Seifert and Wilem Frischman. Over the subsequent 65 years the building has endured because of its design strengths but Seifert’s first foray into European modernism, influenced by Neimeyer in Berlin, has been spoiled by recladding of the elegant High Street frontage.

The project realises the development potential of the site by increasing the massing at the main roof and the rear whilst being sensitive to the Conservation Area and neighbouring park and school. A new principal, step-free entrance and single stair and passenger lift core will serve all parts of the building to make it fully accessible to the widest population.

This low carbon, BREEAM excellent refurbishment and extension totalling 29 000 sq ft of commercial space will create a new ecologically beneficial environment with bio-solar green roofs. The restored High Street façade will pay homage to a previous period of optimism and renewal in London architecture and welcome a new wave of creative endeavour and regeneration. Construction started in April 2022 for completion in the third quarter of 2023.