PROJECT REPORT: RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS 33
have to provide basement parking levels. The articulated line of the buildings in Phase 1 was chiefly influenced by the row of retained mature London plane trees along Abbey Road, which have also been used to locate small play areas with natural shelter. “It adds so much to the streetscape, and the space between the buildings” says Thiel, adding that to achieve this the designers worked “really closely with our landscape architects, and an arboriculturist.”
Phase 1
The smaller first phase still manages to give substantial variety in form and character, from three to 13 storeys, with three blocks with their own varieties of heights, plus a block of seven terraced townhouses. The higher levels offer great views into central London, which would, as the architects say, normally be given to private rented or private sale flats. The building form is ‘kinked’ in a way that relates to the streetscape and landscape, to create a much more amenable urban presence with a series of “strong frontages'' broken up by “entrance squares.”
The aim in terms of the block design and facades was to balance unity and visual coherence for the overall development with a desire to provide a set of distinctive looks for each block. As with the larger Phase 2, this would be done in the context of preserving existing connections out of the sites, including cycle routes, as well as mature trees, and paying close reference to the nearby school in the design. Thiel sums up the challenge of Phase 1
ADF MARCH 2023
as “delivering 201 homes on a very tight plot, including a playground and communal gardens, whilst also relating to the existing estate,” which largely consists of three- storey blocks, some of which are close to the new scheme. “It was a puzzle, trying to manage that scale difference in terms of the massing, while delivering all of the homes that were required.”
Possibly even more important for this scheme’s lasting contribution to the community, as Thiel explains, is that across both Phases 1 and 2, “all homes are tenure-blind; there is no difference in the design of homes for market and those of affordable rent.”
The scale of the development is broken down by the higher blocks having a “stepped lower shoulder,” says Thiel, to reduce the overall impact and relate to the scale of the surrounding buildings. The resulting volumes are six and 11 storeys for Block A, eight and five storeys for the skinnier Block B (which has a low block of townhouses sitting in front of it), and six and 13 storeys in the case of Block C. Its six-level portion, which is allocated to affordable housing, has a roof garden, located adjacent to the townhouses. Blocks A and C have significant kinks in their form at the junction between the different heights, helping to add activity and variety to the overall composition. However the architects were pleased to discover in consultation with Wates that this “did not add too much to the costs,” says Thiel. “As we had linear blocks, and the ratio efficiencies, it doesn't matter
PUBLIC REALM
White Arkitekter created a variety of safe and pleasant public spaces which connect buildings in both phases, informed by the practice's 'Places for Girls' research Photos © Paul Riddle
PROJECT FACTFILE
Client: London Borough of Barking and Dagenham/ BeFirst Regeneration & Wates Residential Number of homes:
Phase 1 – 201 (60% affordable), Phase 2 – 386 (60% affordable) Site area: 0.9 ha (Phase 1) 1.33 ha (Phase 2) Phase 1 GEA: 19,300 m2 Phase 2 GIA: 37,180 m2 Architect and landscape architect: White Arkitekter Contractor: Wates Residential Structural and civil engineer: Mason Navarro Pledge M&E/sustainability engineer: AECOM Planning consultant: Be First Regeneration Delivery architect (Phase 1): TP Bennett
Delivery landscape architect: White Arkitekter + Camlins
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