OVERVIEW:
A 1,660 sqm mixed-use refurbishment and extension within a tight backland site in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Utilising Modern Methods of Construction to create much needed commercial units and thirteen new homes for the community.

COMMUNITY IMPACT/VALUE:
The surroundings are a rich tapestry of functions, typologies and eras: from Victorian terraces, to the historical Notting Hill Methodist Churc, and the disused concrete frame workshop adjacent to the M4 underpass that forms the focal point of the scheme. Collaboratively with RBKC, the retained building has a series of two storey pavilions and a six-storey ‘tail’, stitching together new and existing volumes and uses.

Activated by the craft workshops on ground floor, the project links into the wider community initiatives along the Westway.

TECHNICAL INSIGHTS/CHALLENGES:
Retaining the original frame structure requires lightweight technical solutions above, hybrid exposed timber flitch beam designs driving reuse and reduced carbon footprints, whilst maintaining the alure of the triangular site.

The infills feature dramatic incisions and openings referencing the scale, composition and weight of the original building. The sizable cuts provide private outdoor amenity and urban greening. The opportunity for increased mini courtyard frontages and therefore glazing, flood the new homes with natural light. The profiled form of the pavilions varied roofscape maximises the sunpath for adjacent dwellings.

A Cross Laminated Tiber (CLT) kit of parts forms the taller element, generating the structural form as well as the finished engineered internal aesthetic. Stabilised by a cast concrete core, these triple aspect flats are then faced in local red-brick palettes echoing the prevailing context.

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:
This scheme forms a light touch series of additions and refurbishments to the existing building and a creative new craft and residential quarter for the area.