PROJECT REPORT: SOCIAL & AFFORDABLE HOUSING


brickwork rises up to the first residential floor, while the bin store on no. 169 is marked with a taller ‘hit and miss’ pattern instead of more traditional metal louvres. Ramps access to the ground floor homes have also been added at the base. Contrasting colours, particularly in relation to the adjacent corner building’s fairly light material palette, makes the scheme a distinctive addition to the street, but one which ties in visually with other nearby buildings. Lea says: “I don’t think every building has to stand out. Blue brick was used extensively on the building opposite [Tangerine House, a private residential scheme], so we thought that would be a nice link.” Further adjustments had to be made to level the rooftop railing to match that of the corner building, while the overall height of the new brick parapet was also kept as low as possible to enhance the well-shaped corner of the street. All openings in the building are ‘cuts’ in the brickwork, with white brick used to mark recessed areas such as the balconies and external walkways (see image, left). With this being a budget-constrained council housing scheme, the architects had to adopt a well-insulated, robust fabric and make the most of the larger building’s south-facing orientation before deploying additional sustainable measures, so the white brick helped brighten up the spaces, particularly the north-facing walkways in the rear. Lea admits the architects only used it where absolutely necessary, as it was an expensive imported material. “[The white brick] came from Belgium,” he says, adding that the practice wanted to avoid using white bricks manufactured in the UK because they contain vanadium and can turn green over time.


The only exception to the blue and white cladding palette is the main entrance, where the wall cladding is bright red, to match the logo of the TMO, Leathermarket JMB. Likewise, the only render used is on the staircase, where the budget couldn’t allow pre-cast concrete to be specified. Lea emphasises that the materials used throughout the scheme – from the high- quality metal ceilings in the walkways, to the tiling on the staircase and the landscap- ing in the courtyard – are low-maintenance and should last a long time with minimum maintenance costs.


High-spec & tenure-blind


The Long Lane scheme was designed to be ‘tenure-blind’ and in not being ‘obviously’ council housing, thus challenge the often


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