MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT REPORT
Tide is high once again in Croydon
Europe’s tallest modular building yet, the 50-storey College Road residential scheme in Croydon, is Tide Construction’s second tower in the fast-growing borough, with over 1,700 units on a narrow, densely urban site. Stephen Cousins fi nds out how they did it.
dvances in Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) have fuelled a global trend for volumetric modular high-rise residential development, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the borough of Croydon in south London, where two of the world’s tallest modular buildings have been erected.
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Marking the gateway to a new cultural quarter next to East Croydon railway station and reaching a height of 135 metres, Ten Degrees became the world’s tallest modular residential building when it was completed in 2021.
The two interconnected 38- and 44-storey towers took contractor/developer Tide Construction and its volumetric manufacturer sister company Vision Volumetric just 26 months to deliver. Fast forward to the end of 2023 and the same team was responsible for closing
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out an even taller 163 metre modular skyscraper on an adjacent plot, making it the tallest modular building (of any type) in Europe. College Road comprises one 50-storey tower with 817 co-living homes and amenity spaces, built for operator Outpost Management, connected to a 35-storey tower of 120 affordable homes. Not just an offsite giant, College Road is also a pioneering co-living development, featuring an array of shared amenity spaces including a bespoke gym, private dining rooms, professional chefs’ kitchens, a library, a cinema, a spa, and a ‘sky garden’ – even a poker room and a podcast studio. Taking volumetric modular to such unprecedented heights posed numerous design, fabrication and construction challenges for Tide and Vision Volumetric, architect HTA Design, and the wider
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