McBains
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Capabilities
  • Sectors
  • Projects
  • Our People
  • Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework
  • Careers
  • News
  • Contact
Recent Projects
  • Glenvale Park Phase 2
    Glenvale Park Phase 2 View Case Study
  • Alexandra Road, Corby
    Alexandra Road, Corby View Case Study
  • Paddington Square
    Paddington Square View Case Study
  • Graduate Hotels
    Graduate Hotels View Case Study
  • UKAEA – Combined Office Building
    UKAEA – Combined Office Building View Case Study
  • Perry Road, Harlow
    Perry Road, Harlow View Case Study
  • Projects

Two Fifty-One

A 41-storey residential-led, mixed use tower and adjacent commercial office building within the Elephant & Castle regeneration zone.

Two Fifty One Tower
Views of the shard at sunset

At 131 metres high, Two Fifty-One is one of the tallest residential towers in London. The new building provides 338 apartments in a mix of tenures, with a residents’ lounge, gymnasium, cinema, restaurant, meeting spaces and ground floor retail. The scheme included the construction of a commercial office building finished to Cat A office space with a ground floor coffee shop.

The apartments at Two Fifty-One range from 400 to 2,700 square feet with many enjoying dual aspect views and half of the units benefiting from fully glazed winter gardens.

The area between the two buildings has been sympathetically landscaped and a full height ‘living wall’ adorns one side of the seven-storey commercial building.

McBains readily supported the client’s design team and contractor in their choice of ‘Design for Manufacture and Assembly’ (DfMA), developed by Laing O’Rourke, as their preferred construction method.

The DfMA system allows components, including the concrete frame and bathroom pods, to be manufactured off-site. The benefit of this manufacture is precisely controlled conditions leading to products that are checked during production and quality assessed for high standards before they leave for transportation to site. By removing construction activities from the site and placing them in a controlled factory environment there is a significant positive impact on safety.

This modular construction method allows a shorter construction programme, with a new storey being completed every six days during the construction’s peak. Each pre-cast concrete piece was asset-tagged with a barcode and coordinated to be crane-delivered precisely when needed; reducing the need for onsite storage and lorry waiting time. Reducing activity on site also reduces the movement of large numbers of people, materials, waste, plant and vehicles thus benefiting the project and local environment.

The key to an effective DfMA construction is the successful co-ordination of disciplines, contractors and consultants to ensure efficiency in the delivery programme. As a pioneering inter-disciplinary consultancy, McBains staff have always been leaders in the field of collaborative working and thrive in an environment where co-operation is key.

modern apartment interior
Contact Us
Client:
ECA Developments
Services Provided:
Project Management
Employer's Agent
Sector:
Hotels & Leisure
Offices
Private Residential
Retail
Location:
Elephant & Castle, London SE1
Period:
2014-2018
Value:
£130 million
Contact Us

You might be interested in...

Paddington Square

Paddington Square

A major, mixed-use scheme strategically located next to Paddington Station, London’s second busiest transport hub. An important catalyst for the regeneration of the area, the transformative scheme provides a mix of commercial and retail space, together with substantial public realm and station improvements.

Graduate Hotels

Graduate Hotels

Extensive refurbishment of two hotels for the Graduate Hotels brand; a collection of boutique hotels located in key university towns across the US and the UK.

UKAEA – Combined Office Building

UKAEA – Combined Office Building

Multi-disciplinary design services for a new office building for UKAEA and Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) on the Culham Science Campus in Oxfordshire.

McBains Explains

Get the latest insights from McBains and industry news to your inbox each month.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to us storing your data for the purpose of sending you a newsletter.

Explore McBains

  • Crown Commercial Service (CCS) Framework
  • Architecture
  • Masterplanning & Urban Design
  • Building Services Engineering
  • Building Surveying
  • Civil & Structural Engineering
  • Employer's Agent
  • Project Management
  • Project Monitoring & Due Diligence
  • Quantity Surveying
  • Sustainability & ESG
  • Digital Engineering (BIM)
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Principal Designer / CDM Advisor
  • Education
  • Financial
  • Healthcare
  • Heritage
  • Hotels & Leisure
  • Housing & Masterplanning
  • Industrial
  • Motor Retail
  • Offices
  • Police & Custodial
  • Private Residential
  • Public Sector
  • Retail
  • Social Housing
  • Transport
  • Urban Regeneration

© 2025 McBains – Privacy Policy – Modern Slavery Statement

Brand by David Carroll & Co . Design by Mutual & CIB