Freemasons Hall Universal Access Entrance and Service Lift Design and Access Statement Ref.

1520-02; date 22.03.2010

Significance Freemasons Hall Great Queen Street Camden London WC2B 5AA is an historic building listed grade II* built between 1927 and 1933 to a design by Ashley and Winton Newman. The building occupies an irregular polygonal site. Its predominant impact in terms of townscape is the western corner tower with the main ceremonial entrance beneath. It is described as being stripped classical in style with the long facades punctuated by slightly projecting entrance bays. On a steel frame, the roof is of massive concrete construction clad on the perimeter with fine welsh slates. The external walls are clad in Portland stone with fine carved detailing to doors, windows, plinths, string courses and cornices. Internally, the main entrance halls are finished in austere neo Grecian style with rich marble floors and bronze fittings. Design None of the current entrances are designed to provide for universal access and thus special arrangements have to be made for wheel chair users. Of course the same applies to deliveries requiring wheeled access. Internally there are lifts for people, including one providing for disabled access, albeit some distance from the main entrances. There is a small service lift adjacent to the entrance facing on to Great Queen Street. The proposal is to make a new opening adjacent to the Queen Street entrance to provide level access to the building and to a new lift. This will be a fire escape lift, universally accessible and also suitable for goods delivery to each floor and to roof level. A generous new lobby between the new entrance and this lift will be directly connected to the existing entrance hall. It will have finishes and fixtures that match in terms of materials and character. In the entrance hall the current reception facilities are rather cramped and the intention is to extend the area available to the security staff in a manner that allows for them to manage both the new and the existing entrances more efficiently. Only diagonal views of the faade Great Queen Street faade are available due to the width of the street. The opening for the new doorway is to be restricted to the width of the windows above with detailing to match. The aim is to maintain the rhythm of the faade and to avoid unnecessary visual competition with the adjacent entrance. The door will be of restrained design clad in bronze to match those exiting. Signage and lighting at low level for the new entrance is to be set into the reveals to be created in the perimeter wall. The new lift will be located within a shaft running from basement through all floors, currently occupied by a service stair surrounding a smaller lift. The shaft is to be

extended to roof level and protected by an extension of an existing services enclosure. Modifications to wall openings for the new lift will be finished in materials to match existing; that is in reconstructed stone or plaster. A new floor in marble to march the existing is to replace the existing carpeted finish in the extended entrance hall that connects the new door, the new lift and the existing entrance hall. Access Statement A number of options were considered for a universally accessible entrance to the building complex. All of the existing entrances are stepped. The most commonly used entrance to the building is centrally located on the Great Queen Street faade and one obvious solution was to modify this. A second option was the creation of a new entrance that could link to the Main Entrance Hall, as described above. The advantages to the use of a new second entrance are as follows. The rise from pavement to finished floor level at the Main entrance is such that the ramp would project into the building interior. A full width ramp to the main entrance would require major modifications to the public pavement with significant problems in terms of services diversion as a result. A mixture of ramp and steps at the main entrance is considered to be potentially dangerous at what is a very busy access point during peak usage periods. A full width ramp to the main entrance was also rejected on the grounds that, when wet, it poses a far more dangerous slip hazard than steps. The slope to the new entrance can be accommodated with the space between the boundary and the new door. Potential slip hazards associated with the new entrance are minimised by the close proximity of hand-rails mounted on the returns of the perimeter wall and to the use of York-stone to the surface of the new ramp. The point of entry to the building from the new entrance provides immediate face on access to a generous reception desk in a lobby with undisturbed waiting space, connecting directly to the entrance hall. The new point of entry and its lobby lead directly to a universal access lift serving all floors.

It is for these reasons that the new entrance is recommended since it is considered to have significant practical advantages over adaption of the busy main entrance.