London & South East

Look, up in the sky!

Rooftop Bar & Grill - the Boundary building, Shoreditch

Located appropriately enough on top of the Boundary building, Shoreditch, Boundary Rooftop is a fantastic – sort of new – dining and relaxation space.

Boundary Rooftop comprises a mix of bar, grill and dining area and with its stunning glass pergola it is truly the cherry on top of the Boundary building.

The Boundary building is owned by Prescott & Conran and includes 12 spacious guest bedrooms, five suites, a restaurant, a café and shop, events space and of course Boundary Rooftop. Boundary Rooftop recently received a makeover which included the installation of a new pergola, to transform it from an open-air venue to a partially covered, and more practical, dining space.

Work began on transforming Boundary Rooftop in January 2013 and reached completion in March 2012. Approximately 70% of the new pergola was pre-fabricated off-site and assembled on-site once it was lifted into place.

Rooftop Bar & Grill - the Boundary building, Shoreditch

Conran & Partners provided all architectural services on the Boundary Rooftop project, whilst WFC was the main contractor. Compass Glass supplied the glass framework, John Hewitt was the project manager and Nicola Lesbirel was the rooftop’s garden designer.

Discussing the recent transformation, Prescott & Conran Managing Director, Peter Prescott, said:

“We launched Boundary four years ago and when we originally opened the rooftop area it included a bar and open-air dining area. During the warmer months this area of the building was extremely popular, however during the colder months we became increasingly aware of how challenging operating this area of the building was.

“From an operational point of view 2012 was possibly one of the worst years for our rooftop facility due to the weather conditions. This was a big disappointment for us as we only operated the rooftop dining area for 112 days in the whole year, so we decided to remedy this.

Rooftop Bar & Grill - the Boundary building, Shoreditch

“The new rooftop space now includes a weatherproof pergola, which covers approximately 40% of the total area of the roof. This allows the dining area to remain open all year round regardless of the UK’s temperamental weather.”

Peter added:

“We wanted to keep the feeling that this is still very much an outside space, so we have used a system call Skyframe to create the pergola. The pergola is a super lightweight structure which has huge panes of glass that could slide back and let in direct sunlight and a light breeze whilst shielding guests from the elements when needed.”

Whilst work took place on Boundary Rooftop the Boundary building remained open. In order to reduce disruption to guests the work was conducted during the early part of the year, when the building is a little quieter.

Rooftop Bar & Grill - the Boundary building, Shoreditch

Peter said:

“The feedback for Boundary Rooftop has been fantastic. Our guests find the roof space quite refreshing and it is already proving to be extremely popular. As Boundary Rooftop is weather proof we now have the ability to accommodate parties and small groups and I’m extremely pleased with the work that was undertaken on this project.

“When we set out to do this project we saw it as a good investment for the building. We now have a new facility and service for our guests where we can serve breakfast and where we can trade a little bit later into the evening, so it is very important for us.”

Boundary offers a range of capabilities for guests and diners, from private dining and exclusive hire, through to breakfast and lunch events. The private dining room is suitable for groups of between eight and 30 people for a seated meal, whilst Boundary Rooftop can cater for everything from small events to large celebrations.

For more information about Boundary, including Boundary Restaurant, Boundary Rooms and Boundary Rooftop, please visit: www.theboundary.co.uk.

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Roma Publications