Skip to content
CLW
5 The Strand, Westminster, Axiom Architects scheme for Whitbread Group PLC

Project case study

5 The Strand

Waterproofing design and performance specification for the basement extension under the Strand frontage, Axiom Architects, Whitbread Group PLC, with Cumming Group as PM.

5 The Strand is a basement extension carried out under one of the most operationally sensitive frontages in central London. CLW was appointed by Whitbread Group PLC, working alongside Axiom Architects and Cumming Group, to deliver the waterproofing design and performance specification for the new below-ground works.

The brief was BS 8102:2022 Grade 3, a fully dry, commercially usable environment, designed against a programme that had to keep the existing building operational and the public frontage undisturbed. The waterproofing strategy was developed in parallel with the temporary works and the structural sequence, so the system selected at design stage remained constructible under the constraints that actually applied on site.

On a basement extension beneath an occupied building, the commercial value sits in eliminating the late-stage waterproofing redesign that follows when system selection is carried out in isolation from the rest of the engineering.

Project credit: Axiom Architects · Whitbread Group PLC.

Working on a comparable scheme?

Independent waterproofing design from RIBA Stage 2 through construction monitoring. Defensible, document-led, contractor-agnostic.