Clear Architects’ recent planning approval for Dwellers Ford has been featured in the January issue of the Architects’ Journal, displaying what can be achieved on an overlooked site with several constraints, through clever and sensitive design and collaboration.

The site currently consists of 33 derelict asbestos-ridden garages in Flood Zone 3, leeching contaminants into the water course. Clear worked with the London Borough of Waltham Forest through a mini Planning Partnership Agreement to transform the site into an urban oasis, driven by a sustainable approach to both the site and the architecture itself resulting in site wide betterment, flood management and a major improvement in biodiversity.

The combination of the natural setting and choices in materiality including the Thermowood timber cladding for the façade, creates the charming treehouse feel of this new sustainably driven development along the River Ching, E4.

This project for us, displays a clear example of how we can be using development to make the environmental changes we need.