7 Located in Pimlico, London, Dolphin Square boasts a storied history that reflects both grandeur and intrigue. Completed in 1937, this massive apartment complex quickly became a symbol of luxury and modernity, attracting high-profile residents, including politicians, actors, and spies. During World War II, it housed military personnel and was a hub of wartime activity. The post-war era saw Dolphin Square continue as a prestigious address and home to a vibrant community of residents. Despite periods of change, Dolphin Square has remained an iconic fixture in London's architectural and social landscape, embodying a rich tapestry of historical events and cultural shifts. Today, Dolphin Square is one of London’s most historic and significant residential estates, comprising 1,234 homes across 13 buildings within a 7.5-acre site, including 3.5 acres of Grade II-listed landscaped gardens. The estate is a landmark of neo-Georgian architecture and early 20th-century urban housing. The estate has undergone one of Europe’s largest residential restorations, transforming a historic asset into a modern, sustainable, and community-focused private rental estate while preserving its architectural heritage. Dolphin Square serves a diverse resident base, providing apartments of varying sizes and layouts to accommodate different household types and lifestyles. Residents benefit from a comprehensive lifestyle package, including fully restored fitness and leisure facilities, yoga and spin studios, wellness spaces, upgraded squash and tennis courts, a café-bar, a terrace, and juice bar. The estate’s publicly accessible, Grade II-listed gardens foster outdoor activity and social connection. A committed on-site team manages day-to-day operations, ensures resident safety and comfort, supports community engagement, and maintains high operational standards. Operations at Dolphin Square are guided by values of community, wellbeing, inclusivity, sustainability, heritage preservation, and resident-first service. Every intervention - from apartment layouts to communal amenities, energy systems, and gardens - is shaped by these principles, ensuring the estate delivers both historic integrity and modern comfort. The estate applies a resident-first approach to all aspects of management and restoration. The phased delivery gives residents the option to remain on-site, maintaining continuity and community cohesion. Apartments have been reconfigured to provide light-filled, open-plan living, improved storage, upgraded kitchens and bathrooms, and enhanced accessibility, enabled by modern fire and smoke ventilation systems. Energy-efficient measures include air source heat pumps, MVHR systems, roof insulation, over 6,000 heritage-style double-glazed windows, and rooftop solar panels, creating low-carbon, sustainable homes. Communal spaces and gardens are designed for inclusivity, social interaction, and wellbeing, with events, wellness classes, and opportunities for creative expression. Ongoing engagement through coffee mornings, town halls, and feedback loops ensures that residents’ voices shape estate operations and improvements. Sustainability, heritage, and community values are embedded in procurement, construction, and day-to-day management, making Dolphin Square a model for integrating historic preservation with modern, people-focused living. Roshan Ramlugun of AXA Investment Managers who led the project tells us more about the firm’s focus. “Within the real estate and property space, our focus is on heritage-led restoration and modernisation of large-scale residential estates, delivering homes that meet contemporary standards of comfort, sustainability, and wellbeing, while preserving architectural and cultural significance,” she states. This focus has been driven by experience in managing and upgrading live, operational estates, where maintaining community continuity and resident satisfaction is critical.” Indeed, the estate’s original layouts, limited accessibility, had inefficient heating, and underused communal amenities which demanded innovative solutions. Lessons from these challenges informed the phased restoration strategy, enabling works to proceed with residents living on-site, minimising disruption, and integrating low-carbon systems, smart home technology, and reconfigured apartment layouts. “The choice to specialise in this area stems from the opportunity to demonstrate that historic estates can meet modern sustainability standards, deliver high-quality living, and foster social value,” continues Roshan. “By combining conservation, operational excellence, and resident-focused design, the project creates a replicable model for future urban residential restoration, proving that heritage preservation and modern living can coexist successfully.” Despite its impressive status, the restoration of Dolphin Square presented several significant challenges. As a 1930s residential complex, much of the original building fabric, including singleglazed windows, uninsulated roofs, and outdated mechanical systems, no longer met contemporary standards. Interiors featured narrow kitchens, limited storage, poor accessibility, and compartmentalised layouts, which constrained modern living. One of the key challenges faced was delivering extensive upgrades while the estate remained occupied, ensuring continuity for residents and maintaining community cohesion. “This required a phased restoration approach, careful planning, and constant engagement with tenants to minimise disruption,” explains Roshan. “The project also had to balance heritage conservation with modernisation, ensuring all interventions – such as the replacement of over 6,000 bespoke heritage-style windows, installation of air source heat pumps, MVHR systems, and upgraded communal spaces – respected the architectural character of the estate.” The team at Dolphin Square is particularly proud of the resident engagement maintained throughout the works, successfully integrating sustainability, wellbeing, and modern amenities into a historic estate. The creation of accessible, light-filled homes, revitalised gardens, and communal facilities demonstrates that a large-scale heritage estate can be transformed into a modern, lowcarbon, and community-focused residential environment without compromising its historic identity. The team made sure to have regular touch points with residents to keep them updated and involved in the works, creating a relationship of trust and connection throughout. Weekly coffee mornings for residents to meet with senior leaders and ask questions, 1-1 calls with project leads, and consistent communication throughout were key elements of ensuring the community was put first. The Dolphin Square project has cultivated an internal culture that empowers its team and drives performance. The organisation operates with a flat structure, encouraging staff at all levels to take ownership of initiatives and contribute new ideas, fostering innovation and accountability. Regular exposure to senior management ensures that every team member is connected to the wider vision of the estate, while cross-department collaboration promotes knowledge sharing and breaks down silos, allowing insights from operations, resident engagement, and maintenance to inform decision-making across the business. “At the heart of the culture is a relentless focus on customer satisfaction,” enthuses Roshan. “Success is measured not just by operational metrics, but by the experience and wellbeing of residents, ensuring that every initiative – from apartment upgrades to communal space enhancements – is delivered with a customer-first mindset. This culture of empowerment, collaboration, and resident focus underpins Dolphin Square’s ability to deliver highquality, sustainable, and community-oriented living at scale.” Not only for its impressive restoration which saw one of London’s finest and largest residential estates transformed, but also for its residentfirst approach, Dolphin Square gained notable recognition recently when it clinched a highlydesired top spot in the Real Estate and Property Awards 2025, being named Best Heritage Led Residential Regeneration 2025 – UK for its dedicated endeavours. Now, the future for Dolphin Square is focused on continuing and completing the ambitious restoration programme. Phase Two will see the swimming pool and spa fully revitalised, with completion expected in 2026, alongside the upgrade of the remaining Phase Two residential units. Concurrently, work is underway on the design programme for Phase Three, which will further enhance the estate’s apartments, communal spaces, and amenities, ensuring the offering remains best-in-class for residents. Beyond Dolphin Square itself, the firm is actively seeking new opportunities to apply the knowledge and expertise gained from this landmark heritage and sustainability-led restoration to other markets and projects, demonstrating that large-scale, low-carbon, community-focused retrofit is both feasible and replicable. For the remainder of 2025, the focus will be on delivering Phase Two works, continuing resident engagement, monitoring sustainability and wellbeing outcomes, and refining Phase Three designs, all while maintaining high standards of operational excellence and community experience. Contact: Roshan Ramlugun Company: Dolphin Square Web Address: www.dolphinsquare.co.uk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUyMDQwMA==