Branch Place is part of the second phase of our wider Colville Estate Masterplan which we have been developing since 2009. Designed in accordance to a Residents Charter and Design Code, the project is the result of a long and active programme of community engagement and provides replacement council homes, new affordable homes, carparking, playable landscapes and local shops.
The project is comprised of two buildings that were conceived together as an urban block that would contribute to a strong and consistent neighbourhood identity. Each is then articulated independently with distinct typologies, contrasting roof forms and variations in brick tone that provide individual character.
To the north-west corner of the project is Dorchester House, a 7-storey residential block with retail that features a striking seamed-copper roof and metal balconies that take influence from nearby industrial warehouse buildings. At ground floor where the building addresses a corner junction at the edge of the neighbourhood there is space for a local shop.
To the east is Clift House, a courtyard building fronting Branch Place that features a raised landscaped garden with carparking underneath. In response to its different edge conditions, massing is varied.
To the south, the building line is broken down into smaller elements to form a residential terrace of homes lining Colville Street. Lowering the building heights in this way ensures light is optimised into the shared courtyard space, residential back gardens and terraces. Spacious dwellings wrap around the outdoor communal courtyard, with gated back gardens opening out to a raised landscape element to create an environment which encourages connections between neighbours.
A mixed collection of building typologies at Branch Place contributes to the variety of the townscape of the new neighbourhood, but also provides a much-needed mix of dwelling types. The buildings occupy key plots within the masterplan’s network of public streets and pathways which improve wayfinding and establish connections to the local area, with an east-west route reinstating the historic Colville Street through the heart of the estate and a set of north-south pathways opening up pedestrian links between Shoreditch Park and the Regent’s Canal.
Extensive soft landscaping is woven throughout the revitalised estate neighbourhood, with native trees and shrubs improving the ecology of the area, urban climate resilience and the everyday experience of people who live there.