SOCIAL HOUSING, UNFORTUNATELY, TENDS NOT TO BE BUILT ON PRIME SITES, SO IT IS UNUSUAL TO HAVE TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF LISTED BUILDINGS. BUT THIS WAS JUST ONE OF THE ISSUES THAT MEPK ARCHITECTS HAD TO CONTEND WITH IN ITS DEVELOPMENT OF JOHN LAWDER HOUSE IN LIMEHOUSE, EAST LONDON. THE SITE, EFFECTIVELY AN ISLAND SURROUNDED BY TRAFFIC, HAS LITTLE ARCHITECTURAL MERIT ITSELF, BUT IS OPPOSITE ST ANNE’S CHURCH, THE LARGEST OF HAWKSMOOR’S LONDON CHURCHES, AND GRADE 1 LISTED.

Not surprisingly, the planners took a keen interest in what went on the site, and this was further complicated by an extraordinary mix of tenures and types of accommodation. It is to the architect’s credit that it came up with a design that unified these uses while still giving them some identity of their own – in particular distinguishing the relatively small amount of housing for sale, and facing it in the most promising direction.

As if there had not been difficulties enough, the project was further delayed when not one but two design-and-build contractors went into administration partway through construction. A third contractor, Rooff, took the job on at the end of 2007 after a considerable hiatus. As a result the project, which received planning in 2005, and should not have been on site for much more than a year, is receiving its finishing touches some four years later.

One of the great attributes of Hawksmoor’s church is that it managed to survive the devastating World War Two bombing raids on London’s churches. Many areas around were affected including the one where MEPK’s housing now sits. It was then occupied by two-storey supported housing for the elderly which was, says MEPK’s Simon Cottingham, ‘very tired’ and built to densities more suited to the suburbs than to this gritty part of the city.

Bethnal Green Victoria Park Housing Trust (which subsequently became Gateway Housing Association) commissioned the architect to replace the buildings on the site with a mix of social uses, plus some shared-ownership housing. The elderly supported accommodation is in the centre of the site, facing north towards the church and forming part of a fairly solid wall of accommodation on this frontage. To its west is a mix of key-worker housing and general social housing, while to the east are blocks of move-on accommodation for both the elderly and for young people leaving care.

In the southeast corner, facing out from the site and deliberately separate from it is the block of shared-ownership housing, given a different elevational treatment from its neighbours. The centre of the site is occupied by gardens, mostly communal but some private, which benefit from the buffering that the blocks provide from the noise of the busy Commercial Road to the east of the site.

The buildings are five storeys high at one end of the site, stepping down to four at the other. ‘Whereas before the buildings were in the middle of the site, we were re-establishing the historic street line,’ said Cottingham. Main entrances are generally off Three Colt Street, the street to the north side of the site, separating it from the church. This orientation brings back some activity to the street

All the buildings have an in situ concrete frame. Originally the architect wanted to render some elements of the exteriors, but the planners wanted a more muted appearance, in brick. ‘I think it is a shame,’ said Cottingham. The main brick is a Danehill Yellow facing brick, which Cottingham describes as ‘a very traditional London brick’. On the areas where it wanted contrast, such as the stair towers to the supported block, the architect settled instead of render for a very smooth Ibstock Lavenham Multi in cream. The plinth courses to all the buildings are in a Baggeridge smooth blue brick. Copings and sills are in Pennine reconstituted stone.

In contrast, the shared ownership block has terracotta cladding tiles. These help it stand out from the social housing, which goes against the new orthodoxy of making tenure types indistinguishable. But on this site, which is difficult to start with, and with a mix of occupants scarcely top of anybody’s wish list, giving a little kudos to the block in order to attract buyers seems sensible. In addition, on a project that is deliberately low-key, it creates what Cottingham describes as a ‘mini landmark’, visible from the Docklands Light Railway which passes close by.

In addition to the brick used, there is a metallic palette on the development. Roofs are Rheinzink standing seam in its ‘Bright’ finish, also used for soffits and fascias. But there are some metal panels on the walls, and these are in a graphite grey, picking up the colour used on the powder-coated aluminium windows. Rooms facing onto Commercial Road have windows to acoustic standards. And all the apartments, apart from those in the elderly supported housing, have metal balconies.

Internally, the buildings are planned to normal social-housing standards, with the addition of common rooms in the elderly supported housing, and a an office for Gateway Housing Association on the northeast corner of the site. But the relationship between the buildings, and the creation of common spaces, makes this a decent neighbour for Hawksmoor’s church and a proper place to live, rather than just a depressing agglomeration of buildings.

Architect
- MEPK
Design & Build Contractor
- Rooff
Standing seam roof and panels to walls
- Rheinzink
Bricks
- Danehill; Ibstock: Baggeridge
Terracotta cladding tiles
- Naturot
Windows and doors
- DWL
Reconstituted stone copings and sills
- Pennine Stone Ltd
Balconies
- Metfab Architectural & Municipal Metalwork
Paving blocks
- Marshalls

Visit Building Specification.com for the latest Building News, Product Features and Articles