PROJECT REPORT: MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION 27
College Road is the fi rst co-living asset class approved by the Greater London Authority (GLA) under the London Plan
consultant team. A limit on tower crane loading next to the busy railway required a rethink of module design; the high-altitude interaction of concrete cores and steel modules raised the spectre of differential settlement. Furthermore, the constrained urban site with a single access ramp demanded a meticulous plan for module delivery, storage and installation. According to Ronan Farrell, head of design at Tide Construction, the procurement method used – and the vertically integrated delivery team – was a key factor in the project’s success; and also ticked boxes for the local council and the client. We benefi t from being the developer, the main contractor, and the offsite manufacturer,” he says. “That vertical integration gives us a huge amount of control over the procurement process and the delivery of the scheme, which in turn gives the local authority and our client quite a lot of comfort in terms of programme and cost.”
HISTORIC REFERENCES
The recent spate of high-rise development in Croydon is a contemporary echo of its construction boom in the 1950s and 60s, when a myriad of offi ce blocks went up in the town as part of aspirational plans to
create a new post-war society. The architecture of College Road references that mid-century heritage and optimism; in particular, the faceted white terracotta cladding picks up on architect Richard Seifert’s iconic NLA building, also known as the ‘50p building,’ located nearby to the east.
The facade evolves subtly with height thanks to a varying confi guration of ceramic tiles at the base, middle, and top of the tower. A street level colonnade doubles up as an artwork, London artist Adam Nathaniel Furman having covered it with some 14,000 ceramic tiles with glazes ranging from deep indigo blue to white at the top. Arranged in black ribbons that increase in width as they rise up the building, the windows fully encircle the tower near the top, to add emphasis to a prominent, faceted “crown.” Among the many strategic factors supporting the case for the development, the building’s location on the outskirts of London within 100 metres of a train station with fast connections to Victoria, London Bridge, Gatwick Airport was a particular draw.
“When developing in central London,
rents and build costs and certain red tape can make things onerous, so sites like this one in Croydon become much
COLLEGE ROAD IS ALSO A PIONEERING CO-LIVING DEVELOPMENT, FEATURING AN ARRAY OF SHARED AMENITY SPACES
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