Addressing urban constraints
The current 0.1ha site is a car park which adds very little to the local area, with no trees and a poor boundary treatment. We maximised the opportunity to activate street frontage along this busy road and created a positive contribution to the streetscape.
The constrained urban nature of the site meant residents’ concerns about over-looking into their homes and gardens, and the loss of parking spaces needed to be fully considered and addressed within our design.
Cohesion through strong façades
The five-storey new urban block is sensitively integrated into the existing streetscape, creating new interest on the road, an improved pedestrian route along the east of the site and new landscaping. The decorative art-deco roof form of a nearby parade provided inspiration for the building design, informing a delicate façade and roof design that softens the building’s structure.
The top floor façade folds in and out creating an undulating parapet line when viewed from the street, while protruding fins, a continuation of the roof form, break down the scale of the elevation.
Homes with front doors along London Road, complimented by high quality landscape design. They activate the space and provide passive surveillance onto the street.
Sustainability
Our design took a fabric first approach, minimising the requirement for space heating. All units have air source heat pump cylinders for water heating. We received positive feedback from the local community during consultation events on the environmentally friendly design especially the Air-Source Heat Pumps,
public and private landscaping, the addition of new trees and how the scheme encouraged active travel and cycling.
The building design is being updated to meet Passivhaus standard, supporting the Merton Council’s Zero Carbon policy for new housing.