Next to Liverpool’s historic waterfront, SODA Studio shows that even a 1970s tax office can be reinvented for desirable city-centre living
Regian House on James Street was never one of the most iconic buildings in central Liverpool. Built in the 1970s, the former tax office was a generic glazed and brick-clad block, comprising a squat six-storey box facing the main thoroughfare and a longer, taller 10-storey wing stretching out behind it. It did, however, have two things going for it: a robust concrete frame and, from its upper levels, a vantage overlooking the Pier Head that must rank among the finest city views in the UK.
In the wake of the Covid lockdowns, build-to-rent operator Livingway saw in Regian House the potential for a new type of co-living development based around the rise in working from home. It would have the same array of shared amenities as other co-living schemes, but with larger, self-sufficient apartments and a greater emphasis on spaces to work and host events. It called on London-based SODA Studio, drawn by its experience in both adaptive reuse schemes such as West End cinema-cum-office Brock House and hospitality venues such as the Sessions Arts Club in Clerkenwell.
The result is Roco, a high-concept apartment building that may just offer a template for vacant central business space in cities across the UK. The former open-plan workspace, 70m long and 12m deep, has been reconfigured as 120 one- and two-bedroom apartments, opening either side off a central corridor. The ground and seventh floors offer various shared spaces including work areas, a large kitchen, cinema room, gym and treatment rooms. On the seventh floor a planted roof terrace looks out over Tate Liverpool, the Three Graces and the Mersey beyond.
The starting point for this reinvention, however, was the first-floor slab. “When we first visited, our immediate impression was that it was just a very dated, typical office from that period,” says Vincent Hon, the project architect for SODA Studio. “The ceiling heights were quite low, it still had the original suspended tiles, and all the finishes were very tired. There wasn't much that we could reuse, so we thought, let's strip it back to the structure and see what we can do with that.”
As they removed the ceiling tiles, they found a waffle slab, still in good condition. “It was a beautiful concrete structure,” says Hon. “That really began to inform the design moving forward.” With just 2.7m to play with from slab to slab, the designers could maximise headroom by making the waffles a defining interior feature. As part of this, all high-level services have been left exposed and surface-mounted onto the slab. Can lights are placed centrally in each 600mm x 600mm waffle.
The spaces below follow the same organisational logic, with the architects being led by what they discovered as they uncovered the structure. “Once everything was stripped out, we adjusted the design to perfectly suit the waffle grid,” says Hon. “Where there was a section of flat slab, that’s where we’d put partitions.” The regular spans, with 7m-wide bays ither side of a central spine of columns, also guided the programme. “It gave us the flexibility to play around with layouts.” The central columns have been encased in a timber “activity wall”, which stretches the length of the building. This single piece of joinery incorporates surfaces, storage and seating, subtly delineating spaces within the open ground floor.
Soda Studio has kept structural interventions to a minimum, simply making additional penetrations in the lift and stair cores to improve access and circulation. Windows have been replaced with double-glazed units and insulation added to the inside of the envelope. The original brick skin has been retained. “It wasn't really about trying to change major aspects of the existing fabric,” says Hon. “Sustainability-wise and design-wise, the approach was, let's work with what we've got. We've got a beautiful structure as it is. If we’re adding or taking away from the concrete fabric, that kind of defeats the purpose.”
One result of this is that the flats are unusually shaped – the long floorplate, split in two by a central corridor, has generated single-aspect living spaces of about 5m depth from front door to facade. “Although this was something we needed to design around in some ways, it did mean that natural light and ventilation could penetrate all the way to the back of the flats,” says Hon. The fully furnished apartments are styled in muted tones, with separate bedrooms and living areas.
The new functions push the concrete frame hard, not least on the seventh floor, which houses shared amenities such as the gym and roof terrace. With no archive drawings to consult, detailed structural analysis was needed to make sure that the slab could take the weight of gym equipment and deaden any impact noise to the flats below – a particular concern as the waffles are as little as 100mm deep. With ceiling heights already at a bare minimum for exercise machines, a floating floor was ruled out; instead, acoustic impact matts have been installed on top of the slab.
Some compromises are inevitable when a building changes use as dramatically as Roco has. But if the weight machines look a little cramped on the seventh floor, it’s a small price to pay for the neighbouring terrace. Here, residents can sit out in the landscaped courtyard, or lie back in one of three hot tubs, take in the views, and co-live the good life.