Dwellers Ford

Highams Park, East London

Urban Oasis

Replacing 33 derelict asbestos ridden garages with 5 design driven 'stilt' houses, significantly improves the ecology and landscape of the site and its wider area.

Overview

Dwellers Ford symbolises how a brownfield site that is of no benefit to its context and residential neighbours, can be brought forward with tenacity and collaboration for not only the site itself but the benefit of the wider community.

Working in association with the London Borough of Waltham Forest through a mini Planning Partnership Agreement and the Environment Agency - we devises a scheme that developed into 5 stunning 3-bedroomed homes. The watercourse was cleaned up and management of the surface water locally, within this Flood Zone 3b vastly improved.

The proposal has been designed with a fabric first approach with Passive Haus principles. The properties are raised to address flood risk and ‘upside down’ to maximise the stunning setting and cleverly avoid overlooking issues.

The double height entrance leads you to the upper floors with the principal bedrooms and bathrooms to the ground floor. The upside-down nature of the design allows a feature kitchen/dining lounge with a third bedroom or home workspace, overlooking the oasis from the immediate upper balcony to the 1st floor.

We see this project as a classic example of our collaborative work, not only with the wider design team experts, but the Council as well.

The new graded section to house more flood water, created the opportunity for a super habitat island. The site landscaped with suitable flood planting that will not be washed away!

It is a world away from the previously contaminated site.

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Optimised fabric performance with Passive Haus philosophies
Passive solar shading
Air Source Heat Pumps hung from the structure for heating and hot water
Blue roof technology to assist with the Sustainable Urban Drainage System
Re-wilding of current concreted land with a 42% Bio-Diversity Net Gain
Boardwalk style access to the properties

"Constraints on a site can be seen as problematic. However, with a positive approach from all, including the Environment Agency and the right team, we have been able to change a contaminated site, causing issues to the River Ching and being Flood Zone 3, into an urban oasis.

Developments carried out with design sensitivity and the right knowledge can change the land they are on, for the better. That is surely how we as architects can help our developer clients see that change can be beneficial to them too, through the power of design. We need to change how we approach development full stop, and this is an example of how.’' Melanie Clear

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Highams Park, East London

100+ sqm per unit

Approved

3.9

Tonnes

Carbon impact

Specifically designed to work with, rather than against the River, the five 3-bedroom ‘upside down’ houses are clad in Thermowood timber cladding giving a ‘treehouse’ aesthetic. They incorporate renewable energy and sustainable technology throughout their holistic design, providing an overall C02 reduction of 69%.

This proposal is part of London Architects, Clear's, ‘Small Homes Revolution’, proactively creating well-designed small developments on irregular sites which have existing infrastructure in place.

This is the future of development. There will always be development needed, we now need to use it to reverse the impact of the decades of poor choices and lack of understanding of the world we live in

We can build; we just need to build correctly. Our client took the first step - education. They listened and will, once built, have a premium product to sell that assists planet restoration.

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Carbon impact

We can build; we just need to build correctly. Our client took the first step - education. They listened and will, once built, have a premium product to sell that assists planet restoration.

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