Claredale Street is the first phase of the renewal of the Mansford Estate in Bethnal Green, East London and was developed through close working with Tower Hamlets Community Housing and local residents. The project is part of a programme of infill housing schemes in an area defined by a disparate collection of 1960s high-rise towers and slab block estates and between them a patchwork of unused green spaces, ill-defined public/private areas and misused walkways.
Reworking the site of a 1950s era block, our project seeks to humanise and repair the fabric of the area through the creation of an intimate mini-neighbourhood. Conceived as an urban courtyard with a set of inhabited edges, the scheme reinstates the grain and scale of Victorian streets and terraces found nearby. Through a considered approach to height, massing and materiality, the project provides a sensitive approach to density with a wide range of innovative dwelling types and the creation of private and public amenity spaces.
Designed in close collaboration with a local resident steering group, the design and planning of Claredale takes into account guidance from English Heritage to maintain the setting of the grade II listed Keeling House by Denys Lasdun (1957) as a stand-alone building in the local townscape. In response, the placement of a taller apartment block is to the west of our site and buildings then step down in sequence to the east. As part of the urban revision, the historic Teesdale Street is re-instated, with a new pedestrian link and public open space provided where people can gather and play.
Throughout the project gated front gardens lead to individual private front doors and active frontages define new through routes that improve the journey into the home and make the area feel safer and more personal. As the buildings turn each corner, gable ends become principal elevations to create a layout which is brought to life on
all sides.
Woven through the terraces and buildings dwellings range from ground-floor courtyard flats and stacked maisonettes, to townhouses and lateral dwellings for residents aged 60+. Recognised for design excellence, the project was described by the GLA Planning Department as “One of the best examples of estate regeneration”.