This £5m mixed-use scheme of 26 new homes and office space for a local charity sits in a conservation area in Limehouse, east London.

Named after the ex-Prime Minister, who was also an MP for Limehouse and lived in the next street, Earl Attlee House is a pavilion building set on the edge of Hawksmoor’s St Anne’s Church rectory gardens.

This sensitively designed four-storey building with set-back top floor has a strong, simple and repetitive elevation with inset balconies integral to the facade and a material palette of brick, render and bronze-zinc chosen to relate to the stone façades of the adjacent church and library.

Our brief included the need for a mix of uses within the proposals, including mixed-tenure residential and office accommodation.
The office space for local disability support charity the Tower Project creates an active frontage to the street and locating the commercial space here enabled us to incorporate two wheelchair-accessible flats to the rear, both of which have direct street access and on-site car parking. In addition to these units, there are 24 high-quality one and two bedroom affordable and private apartments across four floors above, the majority of which are dual aspect.

The material palette and architectural expression were a key consideration for the local conservation officer and we were able to develop a positive and informed dialogue with the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in relation to the visual appearance of the building, who responded very positively to our contemporary design solution for the historical context.