DOCSLIB.ORG

Brochure Are Those of the Respective Contributors and Are the Modern House Not Necessarily Shared by Londonewcastle 020 3795 5920 and Its Staff

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Brochure Are Those of the Respective Contributors and Are the Modern House Not Necessarily Shared by Londonewcastle 020 3795 5920 and Its Staff 1 Balfron Tower 2 A New Generation Balfron Tower 3 A New Generation 3 Contents Click section title to visit Introduction 4 The building 12 Specifications 19 Studio egret west Specifications 23 Studio egret west Floorplans 27 Ab rogers design Specifications 35 Ab rogers design Floorplans 39 heritage Specifications 47 heritage Floorplans 51 Local Area 57 Colophon 62 To return to the contents page please click this symbol Balfron Tower 4 A New Generation Balfron Tower 5 A New Generation 5 Balfron Tower is one of London’s most iconic buildings, a striking piece of architecture that has come to define the style and sensibility of an era. Possessing a gravity and presence that has become increasingly rare on the city’s skyline, Balfron Tower was designed by Ernö Goldfinger in 1967. From the outset it was lauded as one of the era’s most innovative examples of residential design. Comprising of a meticulous concrete grid of apartments and maisonettes set alongside a slender service tower, the building represented Brutalist architecture at its best, uncompromising but also generous with its internal spaces and communal areas. Balfron Tower 6 A New Generation Balfron Tower 7 A New Generation Now, half a century after its construction, Balfron Tower has a new lease of life thanks to a full restoration and refurbishment to bring it up to exacting modern standards. As a Grade II* listed building, every design detail has been carefully considered, as has the need to develop the elaborate and innovative arrangement of the 146 apartments. One of London’s most prominent post-war residential buildings, the new Balfron Tower retains a strong commitment to the local community, continuing Ernö Goldfinger’s acclaimed legacy. Balfron Tower 8 A New Generation Balfron Tower 9 A New Generation 9 ErnŐ GOldfinger To take Balfron Tower into its second half-century, Londonewcastle has assembled an award-winning team of architects. Together, they have guided the transformation of the tower into an elegant contemporary apartment building. At every stage of the process, the historic fabric of this important piece of Modernist the sky architecture has been carefully respected, whether through careful restoration or sympathetic replacement. It is through construction that It is through that construction The internal layouts have been adjusted, making the new apartments more attractive to contemporary purchasers. The architectural it expresses itself.” expresses it elements of Balfron Tower are being handled by two London-based studios, led by SEW (Studio Egret West) with ARD (Ab Rogers Design) Streets in working on interiors. “Architecture is the art of organising space. space. of organising art the is “Architecture Balfron Tower 10 A New Generation Balfron Tower 11 A New Generation ErnŐ GOldfinger To take Balfron Tower into its second half-century, Londonewcastle has assembled an award-winning team of architects. Together, they have guided the transformation of the tower into an elegant contemporary apartment building. At every stage of the process, the historic fabric of this important piece of Modernist architecture has been carefully respected, whether through careful restoration or sympathetic replacement. It is through construction that It is through that construction The internal layouts have been adjusted, making the new apartments more attractive to contemporary purchasers. The architectural it expresses itself.” expresses it elements of Balfron Tower are being handled by two London-based studios, led by SEW (Studio Egret West) with ARD (Ab Rogers Design) working on interiors. “Architecture is the art of organising space. space. of organising art the is “Architecture Balfron Tower 12 A New Generation Balfron Tower 13 A New Generation Balfron’s ‘third spaces’ The lifts are re-clad in polished concrete, stainless steel are intended to create a and birch plywood, opening up into refurbished lobbies strong sense of community with a bold graphic identity based on the building’s original for its residents. These signage and period colours. The ceramic tiles, paint finishes shared rooms occupy the and rubber flooring will all be co-ordinated to match the original service areas and nine access galleries that are evenly spaced throughout the have been designed in building’s 27 floors, each with a distinctive unifying colour the spirit and intention for tiles and doorways. of Goldfinger’s initial The extensive shared spaces and communal areas were scheme, transforming conceived to evoke the spirit of the original architecture, the Utility Tower into a creating a series of ‘third spaces’ that act as shared rooms series of unique, architect- like Goldfinger’s initial scheme. From the new cookery room designed communal rooms. and interconnecting dining room for residents to hold private Residents at Balfron Tower functions, to the library and workshop, these facilities make will share the benefits of the most of these compact spaces set within the fabric of the the multi-functional spaces, original concrete service tower. ‘We didn’t need laundries, as well as responsibility for example, but we do need gyms and dining rooms’ says for their day-to-day Ab Rogers, explaining that these are the best way of management. A tailored using the array of 25 square metre rooms in the service estate management service tower. These new spaces also incorporate improvements will be established to in insulation, glazing, servicing and environmental emphasize their roles as performance. A gymnasium and yoga room will be joined guardians of the building’s by a music room, cinema and table-tennis room, while the architectural history. building will be crowned by a rooftop garden; a refined and secluded al fresco space for residents’ events and dining, enlivened with planting and contemporary furniture. The newly refurbished tower contains 146 apartments, ranging in size from one to four bedrooms. Londonewcastle has worked closely with its design partners, SEW and ARD, to create a collection of distinctive interiors that make Beton Brut the most of the generous interior space, new layouts and incredible views across East, South and West London. Balfron Tower 14 A New Generation Balfron Tower 15 A New Generation facilities Communal Balfron’s ‘third spaces’ The lifts are re-clad in polished concrete, stainless steel are intended to create a and birch plywood, opening up into refurbished lobbies level 28 Roof Terrace + Private Dining Terrace strong sense of community with a bold graphic identity based on the building’s original for its residents. These signage and period colours. The ceramic tiles, paint finishes level 27 Private Cookery Room shared rooms occupy the and rubber flooring will all be co-ordinated to match the original service areas and nine access galleries that are evenly spaced throughout the have been designed in building’s 27 floors, each with a distinctive unifying colour level 24 Private Dining Room the spirit and intention for tiles and doorways. of Goldfinger’s initial level 21 Workshop The extensive shared spaces and communal areas were scheme, transforming conceived to evoke the spirit of the original architecture, the Utility Tower into a creating a series of ‘third spaces’ that act as shared rooms level 18 Library series of unique, architect- like Goldfinger’s initial scheme. From the new cookery room designed communal rooms. and interconnecting dining room for residents to hold private Residents at Balfron Tower level 15 Gymnasium functions, to the library and workshop, these facilities make will share the benefits of the most of these compact spaces set within the fabric of the the multi-functional spaces, level 12 Yoga Room original concrete service tower. ‘We didn’t need laundries, as well as responsibility for example, but we do need gyms and dining rooms’ says for their day-to-day Ab Rogers, explaining that these are the best way of level 9 Music Room management. A tailored using the array of 25 square metre rooms in the service estate management service tower. These new spaces also incorporate improvements will be established to level 6 TABLE TENNIS Room in insulation, glazing, servicing and environmental emphasize their roles as performance. A gymnasium and yoga room will be joined guardians of the building’s level 3 Cinema Room by a music room, cinema and table-tennis room, while the architectural history. building will be crowned by a rooftop garden; a refined and secluded al fresco space for residents’ events and dining, level g Entrance Lobby | Concierge enlivened with planting and contemporary furniture. The newly refurbished tower contains 146 apartments, ranging in size from one to four bedrooms. Londonewcastle has worked closely with its design partners, SEW and ARD, to create a collection of distinctive interiors that make the most of the generous interior space, new layouts and incredible views across East, South and West London. Balfron Tower 16 A New Generation Balfron Tower 17 A New Generation ARD and SEW have drawn up The ARD approach is more elegant schemes for the various technical, with open shelving layout typologies created from and cabinetry in the kitchen, the refurbished apartments. The Corian worktops, Marmoleum new flats have been sensitively flooring and, in Type B kitchens, reconfigured for open-plan living, high level breakfast bar-style allowing more natural light into counters. Oversized bathroom the flats as well as improving tiles are paired with bold ceiling accessibility. By bringing the colours and the overall effect is kitchen into the main living area, of a contemporary living space separated by the counter and high- informed by Goldfinger’s carefully level units, the feeling of space detailed designs and the innate is maximised throughout the style of the era. apartment, often allowing views right from the front door to the city skyline beyond. Type A one bedroom apartments have a sliding door providing access from the bedroom into the living space, where a breakfast- bar style kitchen is adjacent to the living area.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Performing Public Housing in Ernő Goldfinger's Balfron Tower David
    Make Public: Performing public housing in Ernő Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower David Roberts To ‘make public’ expresses three aims that have driven my doctoral research into the past and future of east London housing estates undergoing regeneration; materially – to protect public housing provision at a time when austerity measures are dismantling it in ideal and form; procedurally – to make visible problematic processes of urban change that are increasingly hidden from public view; and methodologically – to make public my act of research through intimate and sustained collaboration with residents on site. This research document focuses on Balfron Tower, a high-rise of 146 flats and maisonettes arranged on 26 storeys built in 1965-7, the first phase of émigré architect Ernő Goldfinger’s work on the Greater London Council’s (GLC) Brownfield Estate in Poplar. In December 2015, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets approved plans to refurbish and privatise Balfron Tower. In this paper, I describe my collaborative work with the tower’s current and former residents in the preceding three years during which we campaigned for Balfron to remain a beacon for social housing. I structure the paper on the three phases this work followed; analysis of cultural, academic and archival material which foregrounds both the persistent accusations of failure that have afflicted the tower and the egalitarian principles integral to its vision and function as social housing; engagement with residents re-enacting Goldfinger’s own methods of gathering empirical evidence in 1968, and; activism drawing on this material and evidence to contribute to informed public debate and planning decisions.
    [Show full text]
  • Brutalism Redux: Relational Monumentality and the Urban Politics of Brutalist Architecture
    Brutalism Redux: Relational Monumentality and the Urban Politics of Brutalist Architecture Oli Mould Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK; [email protected] Abstract: Brutalism is an architectural form that is experiencing somewhat of a revival of late. This revival focuses almost purely on its aesthetics, but there is an ethical dimen- sion to Brutalism that often gets overlooked in these narratives. This paper therefore reanalyses the original concepts and ethics of brutalist architecture with a reaffirmation of the original triumvirate of brutalist ethics as articulated by Raynar Banham as monu- mentality, structural honesty and materials “as found”. The paper then articulates these through the literature on architectural affect to argue that brutalist ethics are continually “enacted” via a relational monumentality that brings the building and its inhabitants together in the practice of inhabitation. Using the case study of Robin Hood Gardens in London, the paper posits that a “brutalist politics” comes into light that can help catalyse a broader critique of contemporary neoliberalism. Keywords: Brutalism, architecture, architectural geography, urban politics, affect Introduction Brutalism is not so much ruined as dormant, derelict—still functioning even in a drasti- cally badly treated fashion, and as such is ready to be recharged and reactivated (Hatherley 2009:42). In the summer of 2015, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) unveiled their latest exhibition, “the Brutalist Playground” modelled on the concrete playground at Churchill Gardens Estate in Pimlico, London (see Figure 1). The installation was an attempt to rediscover the utility of brutalist form through a ludic and celebratory “twist” to its major material component, concrete.
    [Show full text]
  • Robin Hood Gardens Blackwall Reach
    Robin Hood Gardens Blackwall Reach The search for a sense of place A report by Graham Stewart WILD ReSEARCH Table of contents About the Author and Wild ReSearch 2 Preface 3 The Smithsons’ vision 4 The Place 7 Bring on the Brutalists 10 Streets in the Sky 12 A Home and a Castle? 14 What Went Wrong? 15 Renovation or Demolition? 16 Redeveloping Blackwall Reach 19 Urban Connections 20 References 24 The search for a sense of place 1 About the Author About Wild ReSearch Graham Stewart is Associate Director of Wild ReSearch and Wild ReSearch is the thought leadership and advisory division a noted historian of twentieth-century British politics, society of Wild Search, a boutique executive search business. We and the media. A former leader writer and columnist for The specialise in working with charities, educational organisations, Times, his is the newspaper’s official historian and author of The housing providers, arts, organisations and trade bodies and Murdoch Years. His other publications include the internationally rural organisations. Wild ReSearch provides research, analysis acclaimed Burying Caesar: Churchill, Chamberlain and the and project management for clients wishing to commission Battle for the Tory Party and he has also been a nominee for their own reports, in addition to organising events to launch the Orwell Prize, Britain’s most prestigious award for political such publications. writing. His sixth book, a study of British politics, culture and Our first publication, by Edward Wild and Neil Carmichael society in the 1980s will be published in January 2013. MP, was entitled ‘Who Governs the Governors? School A graduate of St Andrews University and with a PhD from governance in the Twenty-First Century.
    [Show full text]
  • A Concept Made Concrete
    A CONCEPT MADE CONCRETE CONSERVING A BRUTALIST ICON THROUGH ARCHITECTURAL INTERVENTION An explanatory document by Taylor Ryan Bell "In the last resort what characterises the New Brutalism ... is precisely its brutality, its je-m'en-foutisme, its bloody-mindedness." - Reyner Banham 1 ABSTRACT This project aims to prove, through relevant research, that Brutalist buildings such as Robin Hood Gardens are not only important parts of recent history but are also adaptable to modern standards and new functions. It will also prove that architectural intervention, however minimal, is a powerful tool when dealing with aged building stock. Retaining historic buildings contributes to the sociocultural wellbeing of a nation by providing scholars, students and laymen the opportunity to view and study a building that may otherwise be destroyed. Adaptation of aged buildings will help to create cities with a rich tapestry of architectural history, contrasting the old and the new. Understanding the history of the Brutalist movement and its contribution to architectural development in Europe, the Americas, and New Zealand, is paramount when considering this research document. It will be made clear as to why Robin Hood Gardens is an ideal case study. Due to its design and current predicament, Robin Hood Gardens can be seen as a microcosm of the failure of Brutalist ideology - and a failure of twenty-first century society to identify and protect its architectural treasures. Although the topic of adaptive reuse has been covered many times before, the solution proposed for Robin Hood Gardens in this document is entirely unique. The findings of this study will help to inform (or reform) the values of individuals involved in the decision- making process of architectural conservation.
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2019 Contents
    Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2019 Contents Review of the year by the Chair of Poplar HARCA 3 Report of the Board including Strategic report 4 Statement of Board’s responsibilities in respect of 23 the Board’s report and the financial statements Report of the Independent auditors, Mazars LLP, to the members of Poplar Housing and Regeneration 26 Community Association Limited Statement of Comprehensive Income 30 - Group and Association Statement of Financial Position 31 - Group and Association Statement of Changes in Equity 32 - Group and Association Consolidated Cash Flow statement 34 Notes to the Financial Statements 35 Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association Trading as “Poplar HARCA” Regulator of Social Housing number: L4170 Registered Society Number: 7726 Review of the Year by the Chair of Poplar HARCA Chair’s Review Of The Year We are all living through challenging times. It is therefore all the more pleasing to look back on what has been another very successful year for Poplar HARCA, our partners and our community. Of most pride to the Board is the increase in our It is through this strengthened financial capacity that residents’ satisfaction with our services, up from 2016 we continue to confidently bring forward regeneration to 83% of tenants and 75% of homeowners. Listening schemes such as Chrisp Street and Teviot. After to and acting on residents’ ideas and concerns will successfully implementing our treasury management continue to be our first priority. plan in 2018, sufficient funding and security is in place to fund our ambitious development plan.
    [Show full text]
  • A Concrete Defense: Assessing the Welfare State's Application of Brutalism and Le Corbusier in Postwar London, 1945-1977
    Schum 1 A Concrete Defense: Assessing the Welfare State's Application of Brutalism and Le Corbusier in Postwar London, 1945-1977 Courtney Schum Spring Quarter, 2016 Thesis submitted in completion of Honors Senior Capstone requirements for the DePaul University Honors Program Fassil Demissie, Urban Studies Valentina Tikoff, History Schum 2 A Concrete Defense: Assessing the Welfare State's Application of Brutalism and Le Corbusier in Postwar London, 1945-1977 Courtney Schum This paper is produced in fulfillment of the Honors Senior Capstone. DePaul University Spring Quarter 2016 Professor Fassil Demissie, Public Policy, Advisor Professor Valentina Tikoff, History, Second Reader June 9, 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Schum 3 Proposal Statement 3 The Paper Introduction 7 The Buildings as Primary Sources 12 Factor 1: Brutalism’s Contentious Relationship with Britain and Le Corbusier 23 The Inconsistencies in British Brutalism 31 Factor 2: Brutalism’s Adoption by an Inefficient Welfare State 36 Factor 3: Poor Construction Quality in Times of Crisis 43 Factor 4: Master Planners and Their Egomania 46 Conclusion 50 References 52 List of Figures 57 Proposal Statement Schum 4 I was in Marseille my dad this August. We had just completed a hike up one of the city’s tallest hills and were snapping a few photos of the vista when my dad said something that really irked me. “It was a shame,” he said, “that this Mediterranean port city should have its beauty marred by a series of concrete tower blocks lining the surrounding foothills.” For whatever reason, that comment stuck with me. Blanket criticism of Brutalism frustrates me ad infinitum.
    [Show full text]
  • DC PA1502554 and PA1502555 Balfron Tower.Pdf
    Committee: Date: Classification: Agenda Item: Development 16th December 2015 Unrestricted 2015 Report of: Title: Full and Listed Building Planning Corporate Director of Development Permission Application and Renewal Ref No: PA/15/02554 (Full Planning Permission & PA/15/02555 (Listed Building Consent) Case Officer: Christina Gawne Ward: Lansbury 1.0 APPLICATION DETAILS 1.1 Location: Balfron Tower, 7 St Leonards Road, London, E14 0QR 1.2 Existing Use: Residential 1.3 Proposal: Full Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent for: External and internal physical alterations and refurbishment works to Balfron Tower, including: - New fenestration - Alterations to flat layouts - Re-instatement of cornice at the top of the building - Replacement of boiler house flues - Alterations to car parking - Cycle parking and refuse storage arrangements - Lighting - Hard and soft landscaping and associated works. 1.4 Documents: Design and Access Statement (Sections 00-02, 03 Part 1, 03 Part 2, Section 04, Section 05 Part 1, Section 05 Part 2, Section 05 Part 3, Section 06 and Sections 07-09) Flood risk assessment Transport Statement Planning Statement Heritage Statement (Parts 1 and 2) Arboricultural Impact Assessment Statement of Community Involvement (Segments 001 and 002) Sustainability statement 1.5 Drawing Nos: Site drawings 0209_SEW_BT_0003 rev 04 Existing drawings 0209_SEW_xx_0100 rev 01, 0209_SEW_xx_0101 rev 01 0209_SEW_xx_0102 rev 01, 0209_SEW_xx_0103 rev 01 0209_SEW_xx_0107 rev 01, 0209_SEW_xx_0108 rev 01 0209_SEW_xx_0109 rev 01, 0209_SEW_xx_0116
    [Show full text]
  • Brutalist Architecture
    Brutalism: Le Corbusiers first Unité d'Habitation is arguably the most influential Brutalist building of all time. With its human proportions, chunky pilotis and interior "streets", it redefined high-density housing by reimagining a city inside an 18-storey slab block. Chandigarh was one of India's first planned cities, and was Le Corbusier's largest project. He was commissioned to design the masterplan in the early 1950s, after being approved by Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. The city was to serve as the new independent Indian government's regional capital in Punjab, after the previous capital, Lahore, became part of Pakistan. As the precursor to the larger and more famous Trellick Tower, Ernö Goldfinger's Balfron Tower in east London was a testbed for the architect's utopian housing ideals. Completed in 1967 Balfron was the first chance for the Hungarian-born architect to realise a vision for large- scale public housing that had been in development for over 30 years. Denys Lasdun's National Theatre (completed 1976) – one of London's best- known and most divisive Brutalist buildings – is a layered concrete landscape that Prince Charles once described as being like "a nuclear power station". The design for the building was based on Lasdun's idea of "architecture as urban landscape." The Avala TV Tower by Uglješa Bogunović, Slobodan Janjić, and Milan Krstić was completed in 1965, but destroyed by bombing in 1999 and rebuilt in 2010. The housing estate, Robin Hood Gardens, was designed by British architects and Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972.
    [Show full text]
  • Aberfeldy Estate London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (In the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) Planning Application No.PA/11/02716
    planning report PDU/2469a/01 7 December 2011 Aberfeldy Estate London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) planning application no.PA/11/02716 Strategic planning application stage 1 referral (new powers) Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended); Greater London Authority Acts 1999 and 2007; Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008. The proposal Estate renewal comprising the erection of 1,176 residential units and 1,743 sq.m. retail uses, 826 sq.m. community/faith uses, 960 sq.m. heathcare use and 389 sq.m. for a marketing suite. The proposals also include new landscaping, basement and surface vehicular and cycle parking. The applicant The applicant is Poplar HARCA, and the architect is Levitt Bernstein. Strategic issues The application raises strategic matters regarding estate renewal, proximity of the site to operational gas storage holders (hazardous installation), re-provision of existing affordable housing stock, housing mix, density, urban design and access, detailed design coding, climate change and transport. Recommendation That London Thames Gateway Development Corporation be advised that the application does not comply with the London Plan, for the reasons set out in paragraph 101 of this report; but that the possible remedies set out in paragraph 103 of this report could address these deficiencies. Context 1 On 1 November 2011, the Mayor of London received documents from Tower Hamlets Council on behalf of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (the Corporation) notifying him of a planning application of potential strategic importance to develop the above site for the above uses. Under the provisions of The Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 the Mayor has until 12 December 2011 to provide the Corporation with a statement setting out whether he considers that the application complies with the London Plan, and his reasons for taking that view.
    [Show full text]
  • Performing Public Housing in Ernő Goldfinger's Balfron Tower
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by UCL Discovery Make Public: Performing public housing in Ernő Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower David Roberts To ‘make public’ expresses three aims that have driven my doctoral research into the past and future of east London housing estates undergoing regeneration; materially – to protect public housing provision at a time when austerity measures are dismantling it in ideal and form; procedurally – to make visible problematic processes of urban change that are increasingly hidden from public view; and methodologically – to make public my act of research through intimate and sustained collaboration with residents on site. This research document focuses on Balfron Tower, a high-rise of 146 flats and maisonettes arranged on 26 storeys built in 1965-7, the first phase of émigré architect Ernő Goldfinger’s work on the Greater London Council’s (GLC) Brownfield Estate in Poplar. In December 2015, the London Borough of Tower Hamlets approved plans to refurbish and privatise Balfron Tower. In this paper, I describe my collaborative work with the tower’s current and former residents in the preceding three years during which we campaigned for Balfron to remain a beacon for social housing. I structure the paper on the three phases this work followed; analysis of cultural, academic and archival material which foregrounds both the persistent accusations of failure that have afflicted the tower and the egalitarian principles integral to its vision and function as social housing; engagement with residents re-enacting Goldfinger’s own methods of gathering empirical evidence in 1968, and; activism drawing on this material and evidence to contribute to informed public debate and planning decisions.
    [Show full text]
  • Balfron Tower Planning Application
    BALFRON TOWER PLANNING APPLICATION Comments to Tower Hamlets Council on Planning Applications Nos. PA/15/02554 and PA/15/02555 relating to Balfron Tower, The Brownfield Estate, 7 St Leonard's Road, London E14 0QR JAMES DUNNETT, MA, Dip Arch, RIBA for DOCOMOMO-UK General Observations Balfron Tower was designed by Erno Goldfinger for the LCC/GLC as social housing and built in 1965-67 and it was listed Grade 2 in 1996. It, along with its ancillary buildings and the whole of Goldfinger's work on the Brownfield Estate in Poplar, were nominated for listing at Grade 2* by DOCOMOMO-UK in 2014 and we understand from Historic England that their recommendations are to be submitted very shortly to the Minister responsible. So in our opinion these applications should be considered on the assumption that the whole of Goldfinger's work on the Estate has been listed at grade 2*. Indeed the Brownfield Estate has to be seen as the most intact complex of Goldfinger buildings in existence, and thus of capital importance, though it was not in fact - as wrongly stated in the applicant's Heritage Significance Report para.1.1 - 'Goldfinger's first public housing project'. The first was at Abbotts Langley in Hertfordshire eight years earlier, which has largely been demolished. Though it prefigured his work in Poplar in various ways, one of the useful aspects of the Heritage Significance Report is the demonstration in its Figs 2.17- 2.23 of how far Goldfinger was thinking 'from scratch' in the design of Balfron. Fundamental aspects of the design such as the wide spacing and plan form and fenestration of the service tower, are not present in the earliest sketches, and even the question of whether the access corridors should be central or lateral was undecided: the final result was the product of very hard development work apparently over two years from late 1962-64.
    [Show full text]
  • Aberfeldy Estate
    planning report PDU/2469/01 25 August 2010 Aberfeldy Estate London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) planning application no.PA/01344/10 Strategic planning application stage 1 referral (new powers) Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended); Greater London Authority Acts 1999 and 2007; Town & Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008. The proposal Estate renewal comprising the erection of 1,153 residential units (net gain of 855), 2,160 sq.m. live/work space and 3,115 sq.m. non-residential floor space comprising a mix of A1, A2, A3, A5, B8 and D1 uses, together with new landscaping, basement and surface vehicular and cycle parking. The applicant The applicant is Poplar HARCA, and the architect is Maccreanor Lavington Architects. Strategic issues In this particular case the estate renewal raises a host of policy matters including proximity of the site to operational gas storage holders (hazardous installation), re-provision of existing affordable housing stock, housing mix, density, urban design and access, detailed design coding, climate change and transport. Recommendation That Tower Hamlets, on behalf of the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, be advised that the application does not comply with the London Plan, for the reasons set out in paragraph 113 of this report; but that the possible remedies set out in paragraph 115 of this report could address these deficiencies. The application does not need to be referred back to the Mayor if the Corporation resolve to refuse permission, but it must be referred back if the Corporation resolve to grant permission.
    [Show full text]