British Consulate
St Petersburg, Russia

Client: Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Overseas Estate Department

Project value: £4m

The consulate offices were converted from an existing music school, adjacent to the Smolny Cathedral in the centre of St Petersburg. The project also involved the alteration of a 19th-century merchant's apartment building to form consular staff accommodation. The principal rooms, behind main elevations, were restored to their original splendour while alterations were restricted to lesser spaces to the rear of the building. The alteration and fit-out of the consul general's residence on the top floor of the consulate, designed with private and public wings, was completed in February of 2003 at a cost of £1.25 million.

At Kovensky Pereulok, residential accommodation of a very high standard was provided for consular staff by the refurbishment of 19th-century grand apartment buildings.