Hoare Lea appointed to Highbury Stadium project

Arsenal Football Club has appointed Hoare Lea Consulting Engineers to provide mechanical, electrical and specialist building-services design advice for the conversion of the art deco Highbury Stadium to a major mixed-use residential development. The proposed scheme, developed by architects Allies & Morrison, involves converting the Grade 2 listed East Stand and the West Stand, also of historical significance but not listed, to residential accommodation. Car parking is proposed in an undercroft below the area of the pitch, which will be re-instated and landscaped to form communal gardens. The North and South stands will be replaced by residential blocks of a similar mass, thus retaining the sense of enclosure. The building and its services are designed to reduce energy usage and lower the carbon impact. Features include a communal heating scheme incorporating a renewable-energy solar-hot-water collection system and a CHP unit. Underfloor heating in all apartments and increased insulation for the building fabric are also incorporated. These combined measures are expected to deliver a ‘Very Good’ Eco Homes rating.