Info
Project Details:
A new affordable housing scheme paying homage to the area’s industrial past.
Awards:
- Waltham Forest Design Awards 2021: Winner
- RIBA Awards 2018, London: Winner
- Blueprint Awards 2018, Best Non-Public Project (Residential): Shortlisted
- Housing Design Awards 2018, Completed: Shortlisted
- Housing Design Awards 2015, Project: Shortlisted
Images: Tim Crocker
Where we started
Sutherland Road is a new community in Walthamstow, east London, previously occupied by semi-derelict industrial buildings. Following the residential-led redevelopment of other nearby sites, there was an opportunity to continue the regeneration of the area and better serve local residents.
We were invited to work on the scheme by East Thames Housing Group, having previously collaborated with them on Papermill Place, a large affordable housing development over the road. This time, our brief was to provide a mixture of affordable housing tenures, space for a group of local doctors who wanted to set up a new practice, and an attractive landscape to tie these elements together.
The new architecture and landscape combine to create an attractive new development
We are excited about the improvements this new scheme will bring for the area’s existing residents, providing much needed new homes and a doctors’ surgery.
Trevor Burns, Director of Development, Sales and Asset Management, East Thames Housing Group
The challenge was to create a new, mixed-tenure community that could work with the wildly differing neighbours: muscular enough to sit in a light industrial context, but sensitive enough to work with the smaller houses behind. In addition, the design had to provide a sense of place, and create an identity for an entirely new neighbourhood.
The combination of forms and materials gives the scheme a bold identity
The larger elevation has a distinctive, saw-toothed roof which references the area’s industrial past
The mews homes are clad in red corrugated metal
Design
Designed as a cohesive whole, the scheme provides 59 new affordable homes, a shared communal garden and health centre.
The courtyard form takes aesthetic cues from the industrial setting. The street elevation is wrapped in brick with a ‘random’ pattern of windows and balconies. Regular holes punched through give views of the courtyard, whilst the distinctive, irregular saw-toothed roof creates a sense of individuality. In contrast, the mews houses have a more traditional form, which is offset by the striking red corrugated metal cladding, playing on the industrial context and giving these houses a strong identity. Notably, all homes, whether one or two bedroom apartments or three bedroom mews houses, are affordable and dual aspect.
Ground floor plan
An early elevation sketch
The aesthetic of the new homes on this small site deliberately challenges the traditional vernacular of those nearby, and by doing so, reinvigorates and makes a substantial contribution to the transformation of the area.
Gary Tidmarsh, Chairman
A health centre forms one edge of the new scheme
The varied landscape creates useful and attractive spaces for residents
The homes are located in a light industrial area of Walthamstow, east London
A variety of external environments are provided for residents, including formal lawns, a communal terrace and toddler’s play area. This space is designed to encourage informal use, whilst responding to the site’s industrial heritage by featuring small timber trains sat on inlaid steel ‘tracks’. More widely, the landscape plays a crucial role in unifying the scheme. The red of the mews homes spreads through the central courtyard through the use of innovative recycled glass paving units and various planting species.
Core team
Gary Tidmarsh
Consultant
Lotta Nyman
Associate Director
Kate Digney
Studio Director
