Commercial Office Staircase with Six-Storey Wayfarer Design – Fitzrovia

Zakuna were delighted to be involved with the design, supply and fit of this stunning six flight staircase at commercial premises in Fitzrovia, London, for a prestigious law firm. Working with the main contractor, the fire rated stairway needed to be compliant, functional and practical, yet contemporary and luxurious, a demanding brief that drew upon the full breadth of our design and engineering capabilities.

Wayfarer Staircase

This bespoke six floor Wayfarer Staircase presented a series of complex challenges. As the premises was a listed building, there were restrictions on fixing points and challenges from the walls being originally built slightly out of square. Two of the lower floors were underground, which involved consulting with a waterproofing specialist for fixings to the outer walls, ensuring long term structural integrity in these below-grade environments.

The complex design required a perfectly plumb continuous vertical central glazed screen throughout the height of the building, which meant all dimensional discrepancies had to be accounted for at the design stage. Further constraints, such as the position of the lifts, required creative solutions to provide sufficient space to comply with current building regulations. The top floor has a mansard roof, typical of many older London buildings, where protruding steelwork within the roof presented a particular challenge to maintain the necessary head height around the stairwell.

The staircase design includes closed steel risers, 180 degree landings, winders and a central ‘Crittall style’ bespoke glazed screen. Steel substrates and fire rated plasterboard were incorporated to the underside of the stairway for fire compliance, meeting the stringent requirements for a commercial premises of this scale. The bespoke design includes 40mm thickness deep Oak treads, perfectly colour matched to the Oak flooring of the premises. The intricate design to each tread was CNC routered and inlayed with three brass bars, adding a luxurious feel whilst also providing essential anti-slip protection for the high traffic stairway.

The steel risers, framework for the central glazed screen and the steel substrate on the underlying face of the stairwell were all colour matched to complement the doors within the premises. The steel wall mounted handrails were finished in a bespoke brass finish, RAL 1026, to match the anti-slip brass bars in the treads. This attention to material coordination across six floors demonstrates the level of precision and care that a project of this complexity demands, resulting in a staircase that is as refined as the legal practice it serves.