stead street

Location: Walworth, London
Client: Guinness Development Ltd and Hills Partnership
Status: Completed 2017
Budget: £14 million

Competition-winning council-led housing scheme
The Stead Street redevelopment is the last of Southwark Council’s Elephant & Castle Early Housing Sites identified to re-house residents of the now-demolished Heygate Estate.

"What a pleasure it is to live a mile from Westminster in this thoughtfully designed, elegant, oasis. Set on a former car park, this development rises up like a post modern castle from nursery row park."
Resident in Winch House

Two sites were developed in tandem
We were selected to develop proposals for the southern portion of the site fronting the park with Haworth Tompkins Architects responsible for the northern site. Our site contains 77 new homes located in three buildings arranged around two courtyards. The homes include maisonettes at street level with a high proportion of family units also located at roof level with extensive private terraces.

Massing driven by demands of context
The buildings vary in height from four storeys along Brandon Street and Stead Street, limiting their impact on the immediate neighbours, before stepping up to seven storeys onto the park. The set-backs at upper levels create large rooftop gardens for the largest of family units.

Bespoke plan form orientates homes towards park
Through lengthy design evolution, a bespoke plan form was generated so as to afford almost 100% of homes to be dual aspect and orientated towards the adjacent park. Living spaces open out towards the south onto generous balconies, rooftop terraces or the communal courtyards.

Materiality responds to context
The elevations are composed principally of brickwork with a split faced reconstituted stone plinth and areas of precast concrete detailing around balconies, windows and defining floor slabs. The facades along Stead Street are gently cranked on plan to soften their urban form and respond to the undulating roof line on the Haworth Tompkins buildings on the other side of the street.

Low-tech fabric-first sustainability
The development incorporates a passive-approach to technology, including almost 100% dual aspect homes, a central gas fired CHP plant with thermal stores, roof-top PV panels, extensive green roofs and a heavily insulated external envelope.


Photography
Panter Hudspith Architects and Enrique Verdugo
 
illustrative site plan
modest height buildings respond to context with retail unit activating corner
route into park street with defensive ground floor facade to maisonettes
facade opens up to views and south light towards park
heights rise up from context, providing roof level homes with great private terraces
heights step down to minimise scale along stead street
the brownfield site was operating as a car park before the development
in-house model exploring plan cranks & stepped massing configuration
children's play areas are integrated into the courtyards facing the park
homes front onto the communal courtyards
the adjacent park feels like an extension of the communal courtyards
top light is incorporated wherever the set-back massing allows
panoramic views from the upper level maisonettes
south-facing terraces over the park are proving to be well used