Client : Greystar

Location : Hayes, West London

Completion : Est. 2024

Services: RIBA Stages 0-3

Re-connecting the increasingly post-industrial environment of Clayton Road with the leafy Grand Union Canal, through a series of public and private open spaces, has been the key organising principle in this scheme. 407 new homes and commercial spaces are wrapped around sheltered and sunny podium gardens with parking and servicing carefully concealed beneath.

The architecture of the new buildings is restrained, taking the nearby Grade 2 listed Enterprise House as a starting point for the sober treatment of the buildings lining the Clayton Road frontage. By contrast, a more playful rhythm animates the buildings facing north towards the canal, reflecting the differing character of these two environments.

The Crown Trading Centre in Hayes, London, is poised for a transformative renovation, as the existing structures are demolished to make way for a new mixed-use development. This project, comprising of 407 residential units, ranging in height from 3 to 11 storeys, offers a harmonious balance of residential and employment spaces.

The residential component of the development, classified under Use Class C3, will provide residents with modern, spacious living environments designed to enhance their quality of life. The ground floor employment spaces, classified under Use Class B1, will serve as a hub for businesses and bring a new level of economic activity to the area, creating job opportunities for the local community.

This project incorporates a range of amenities, including access and parking for cars and bicycles, landscaped areas, and associated servicing, all aimed at enhancing the livability and functionality of the development.

We are proud to have achieved planning consent for CTC, our largest planning approval to date and hope to continue building on our success with even more challenging and exciting planning projects in the future.

Client : Fairview New Homes

Location : Park Royal, West London

Completed : 2021

Services: RIBA Stages 4-6

Our biggest and tallest development to date sees an 807 home development as the last piece in the jigsaw of the regeneration of the northern pocket of the Park Royal.

Park Royal was once the showgrounds for the Royal Agricultural Society as a permanent exhibition site for the society's annual show. With its road, rail and canal links, Park Royal was subsequently developed for industrial use, and is steeped in a rich cultural and industrial history. 

The design for the new buildings and landscape takes the old Guinness Brewery as its starting point, providing a restrained and well ordered approach to façade hierarchy and landscape integration. Working with Fairview New Homes and an Allies and Morrison Architects who delivered RIBA stages 1-3.

The project was delivered in a single phase design and is now complete and fully occupied.

Image credits - Fairview New Homes

Client - L&Q with Equans

Location - Tower Hamlets

Completed - 2022

RIBA Workstages - 4-6

Introducing Ensign Court, a visionary residential and commercial development located in the heart of London Borough of Tower Hamlets. With 65 new homes and a thriving commercial ground floor unit, this project is poised to revitalize the local community.

At Ensign Court, we aim to harness the unique character of its location as a gateway to the city's urban center. The design features a chamfered concrete plinth, with a ground floor commercial unit protected by a dramatic cantilever, creating a distinct and memorable presence.

Sustainability is at the forefront of this development, with an onsite energy center and homes that meet the stringent Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4 standards. Ensign Court is more than just a building, it is a symbol of the future, where quality, community, and environmental responsibility converge.

FRA were appointed to deliver the detail design of the project as executive architects, following the delivery of the planning design by MacCreanor Lavington.

Client - Countryside Properties

Completion - Bid

Location - Lambeth, South London

Services - RIBA work stages 0-2

FRA joined forces with Countryside Properties to develop a bid proposal for the Geoffrey Close Scheme - a visionary plan to rejuvenate a neighborhood in need of redevelopment.

The existing estate, which has served the community for many years, was in dire need of an upgrade. Our goal was to create a solution that would not only enhance the quality of life for the residents but also keep them in their familiar surroundings.

The scheme was carefully designed in phases, allowing the existing residents to be gradually decanted into new homes. This means that they would not have to leave their neighborhood and disrupt their daily lives.

Client: Bellway Thames Gateway

Location: Sydenham, London

Complete: 2022

Services: RIBA stages 4-6

We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of a new development on a former brownfield site. The project boasts 159 state-of-the-art homes complete with communal podium gardens, a fully-equipped gym, and ample commercial space at ground level. The development capitalized on its picturesque surroundings to offer residents the best of both worlds – a serene living environment and convenient access to city transportation.

Our team was proud to collaborate with Bellway Homes and Fabrik Landscape Architects to bring this innovative scheme to life. With a focus on providing a healthy and convenient lifestyle, the development stands as a shining example of urban rejuvenation.

(image source - Bellway Homes)

Client : Countryside Properties

Location : South Kilburn Regeneration Area, London

Completion date : Expected 2025

Services: RIBA Stages 4-6

We are thrilled to be collaborating with Countryside Properties and Brent on the NWCC project in Kilburn. Our team is diligently exploring options for the design and how we can ensure that it meets the emerging fire safety standards.

More to follow!

A multiple award winning development of 121 apartments and commercial space for A2Dominion and Hill, overlooking the Hertford Union canal and Victoria Park. Working with a Stockwool consent the developed design includes a robust wharf architecture with simple openings and textured brick façades, that sits comfortably within the post-industrial landscape of the area.

Awards:

2015 Inside Housing's Top 60 Developments: Market Sale - Winner

2015 National Housing Awards: Best Design: Shortlisted

2015 UK Housing Awards: Outstanding Development of the Year: Shortlisted

2015 First Time Buyer Awards: Best Architectural Design: Winner

2014 Placemaking Awards: Best Housing Scheme: Winner

2010 Daily Telegraph British Homes Awards: Housing Project of the Year – Winner

Client: Southern HG and Higgins Construction

Location: Bow, London

Complete:2018

Services: RIBA stages 1-3 and 4-6

Bow River Village Phase 1 is the comprehensive regeneration of the entire stretch of the River Lea right bank from Bow Roundabout along Hancock Road. It takes as its starting point the creation of a series of courtyards providing a physical and acoustic barrier between the busy A12 and the peaceful riverside. Robust ‘wharf-side’ brick buildings with simple openings and related detailing provides a new background for community life.

Working alongside Southern Housing Group and Higgins Construction, we have delivered the 219 new homes in a range of tenures, alongside commercial and communal spaces. These form the first phase of the project to establish a whole new community in this part of London, alongside new road and canal bridge to the south providing connections to other new communities to the east.

Awards:

First Time Buyer Readers’ Awards: Best Large Development

Top 60 Developments: Best Affordable Housing Development of the Year - Shortlisted

The second phase of our Bow River Village project with Southern Housing Group and Higgins Construction. Following the successful first phase work has started on site on the second phase with linked basement parking, district heating system, and the continued regeneration of the site for this new east London community.

This is the first phase of the wider three phase Stitch redevelopment of the iconic Marlowe Road Estate in Waltham Forest. Alongside retention of the much loved Northwood Tower building the scheme delivers 430 new homes for social rent and private sale, improved landscaping, a new public square and play areas, and commercial spaces which will provide new community facilities for the area.

A mixed use development of 53 homes and community space for Tower Hamlets Community Housing and Hill Residential.

This award-winning development of 53 homes is part of a wider Mansford Estate regeneration project for Tower Hamlets Community Housing and Hill Residential.

The development is split into 3 buildings, each addressing a different aspect of the site. Uniting them is a raised communal garden space which perches above a new local community centre. Dressed respectively in copper, blue brick and larch, and all topped in planted roofs, the buildings provide contemporary punctuation in the townscape of the area.

On the banks of the Grand Union Canal near to its River Thames confluence, this project is the largest part of a scheme which brings together three Architects under the same masterplan. We are working with ISIS (a British Waterways company) to deliver the 78 homes in the courtyard scheme, alongside 64 homes delivered in three other buildings by other Architects. The building provides a car park below a garden at the heart of a development that is then enclosed within a courtyard. The scheme provides a coherent and considered environment that is given rhythm and modulation by the variegated design.

This delightful project completely refurbishes a Grade 2 listed Neo-Gothic mansion in Highgate. Complete but sympathetic transformation of the interior of the building is combined with a modern extension and an underground gym built into the garden. The building and mature gardens provide a new home for a growing young family and an historic but fitting background to family life.

This redevelopment of the old Eltham Swimming Baths provides 78 mixed tenure homes with provision for the ‘third age’. Excavation of the pools and plant provided a 5m deep underground garage for cars and cycles, alongside the communal heating plant. The building is conceived as a series of volumes that respond individually to their relative townscape locations, with each differentiated by modulated application of the zinc, red brick and glazed materials.

Achieving a high quality, high density but low-rise solution for a cramped urban leftover was the key to unlocking this beautiful site, left derelict for years. With an amazing location right behind the High Street and overlooking mature woodland, the design overcomes the numerous physical constraints and establishes three pavilion buildings set within communal gardens. The contours of the site are modulated to conceal parking and a restrained palette of zinc and glazed bricks brings identity to each building.

The award-winning development along the busy A4 at West Kensington provides 14 homes in a range of tenures for Network Housing Group. On a densely occupied site, we proposed a construction solution of a rapid-erect timber frame combined with clip-on bricks to facelift construction logistics.

The development re-uses the foundations for a previous building, along with the latest environmental technologies to combat a challenging environment and provide a comfortable backdrop to family and community life.

Awards:

Housing Design Award: Project Winner 2009

NLA Housing Award: Commendation 2012

Housing Design Award: Completed scheme shortlisted 2012

International Property Awards: Architectural Multiple Residence 2013

This project of 45 homes on a brownfield site provides a much needed spacious homes for people in their ‘third age’. Working together with Gateway Housing Association and Hill Partnerships the project is a simple double-volume brick building facing primarily east and west.

Specific consideration is given to the relationship between the new building, and the adjoining Ian Mikado school with its ‘memory Ash tree’. Bromley by Bow Station forms the southern boundary of the site providing logistical challenges during the build.

Awards:

NHBC Pride in the Job Quality Award

We are delighted to working with Fairview Homes on this 252 home scheme in the Anerley area of Bromley. Responding quickly to a challenging programme and exacting delivery brief, we provided RIBA stage 3 and 4 designs within 5 months. The scheme is now progressing to site to deliver much needed housing in this popular part of the capital.

This project was the redevelopment of the site of Damien Hurst’s original studio. On the junction of Kingsland Basin and the Regents Canal the site forms a peninsula providing a mixed use development of 119 flats along with B1 and A3 uses. It now has a vibrant cafe scene, and a spectacular courtyard. Working with Metropolitan Housing Trust and ABSE, we secured planning consent for the scheme through difficult detailed negotiations and we are delighted by the contribution the building makes to the wider townscape.

This 362 home redevelopment of the Leopold Estate in Bow is part of a wider masterplan to redevelop the entire estate. Buildings range in height from 4 to 9 storeys and are formed as robust street defining buildings that conceal communal gardens. Working with Poplar HARCA and Countryside Properties, the design includes a fence perforated with designs based on the work of the suffragettes.

Awards:

Nominated for NHBC Pride in the Job Award

Working with Hill Partnerships and Poplar HARCA, Knapp Road replaces an existing collection of bed-sits to provide 35 mixed tenure homes. The building façade is arranged as a composition of different brick treatments, alongside a gold cladding that is etched in flowers, redolent of the products of the original wallpaper factory that occupied the site.

This is the first phase of the 1600 home masterplan to redevelop the area around the mouth of the Blackwall Tunnel. It includes the demolition of the iconic but now desperately run-down Robin Hood Gardens, by Alison and Peter Smithson – a seminal brutalist housing development. The completed development includes 98 homes in buildings up to 14 storeys, a community centre, a mosque and new offices for Swan Housing Trust.

Awards:

Blackwall Reach Regeneration Project has won at the Planning Awards 2015 in the Award for Planning for Housing Growth (The awards are run by Planning Magazine and Planning Resource).