We're pleased to have secured planning permission for a new four-storey townhouse on a constrained infill site next to London Fields in Hackney. The project demonstrates how imaginative design can unlock the potential of small urban plots and former garage sites in London.
This is a project we will be taking forward into development ourselves as a practice.
Unlocking a challenging urban infill site
The starting point wasn't promising: a poorly built former garage conversion, damp, barely insulated and with no meaningful outdoor space. The site sits between a five-storey block of flats and two conservation areas, presenting significant challenges around building height, overlooking, daylight and the relationship with neighbouring properties.
The question was how to create a genuinely contemporary family home while making the most of a tightly constrained urban plot.
A contemporary Hackney townhouse
Our design borrows from two architectural traditions.
From London, the vertical order of the Georgian terrace, with a solid base at street level and the main living rooms lifted to a piano nobile above.
From Portugal and the Mediterranean, the outward-facing life of an upper terrace, layered planting and a house that opens up the higher it gets.
The result is a four-storey home with generous living spaces, outdoor terraces and a series of gardens extending from the ground-floor courtyard to the roof.
Sustainable redevelopment of a former garage site
The existing ground-floor garage walls are retained and retrofitted, while three additional storeys are constructed above. Lightweight terracotta cladding helps minimise the additional load on the existing structure and foundations.
The design targets an approximately 82% reduction in operational carbon emissions compared with a Building Regulations baseline, through a highly insulated building envelope, an air source heat pump, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery and rooftop solar panels.
Summer overheating is addressed through external blinds, secure night-time ventilation and a stairwell that acts as a thermal chimney, drawing cooler air through the house.
Gardens run the full height of the building, from courtyard to terrace to green roof, with swift boxes and bee bricks integrated into the architecture.
Securing planning permission demonstrates the potential for carefully designed infill housing to make better use of underdeveloped urban sites, even in sensitive locations.
We're looking forward to bringing the project to life.