The London Borough of Haringey has granted consent for a mixed-use regeneration scheme in Tottenham Hale, north London. The masterplan, for developer Argent Related, comprises six buildings and a pavilion arranged across five plots. The project will deliver 1,030 new homes, a mix of tenures including a large proportion of Council-owned social rented housing, a cinema, office and retail space and a new health centre.
AHMM has designed three buildings on the Ferry Island and North Island sites. Buildings one and two on Ferry Island will occupy the area between the Tottenham Hale bus station and the reconfigured Station Road. Both buildings will provide a mix of residential, office and retail space with a new cinema at basement level. Alison Brooks Architects, Pollard Thomas Edwards and RUFF architects are designing schemes for other sites within the masterplan.
Construction could begin in summer next year, with the first new homes being complete by the end of 2020.
AHMM has won two awards at this year’s AJ Architecture Awards, announced last night (4 December) at the Roundhouse in London. Naming the third phase of Liverpool’s Royal Court as Cultural Project of the Year, judges commented that it ‘keeps faith with the spirit of the Royal Court and shows understanding of how the theatre is used and its place in the community. As an enticing and socially accessible venue, it attracts those who might not necessarily consider themselves ‘theatregoers’, cementing a vital connection with the locality.’ Meanwhile, they awarded Mixed Use Project of the Year to Television Centre, praising it as ‘a truly mixed-use scheme done really well... a mega-structure with an amazing array of uses. They have turned it into a place which really feels like a piece of city.’ Find out more about this year’s award winners here.
AHMM projects won three awards at the World Architecture Festival last week: Weston Street won the Small-Scale Housing (Completed Project) award, and the Alder Centre won the Health (Future Project) award and the WAFX Ageing and Health category award. White Collar Factory, University of Amsterdam, Television Centre, Blossom Street and Signal Townhouses were also shortlisted and presented at the Festival, which took place from 28-30 November in Amsterdam. Find out more about this year’s award winners here.
Paul Monaghan has been appointed by Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, as the city region’s first Design Champion. The announcement was made at an event earlier today (14 November), hosted in collaboration with RIBA North West, which works closely with the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority on a programme of activities to improve the quality of design in the city region. Steve Rotheram said: “The appointment of Paul Monaghan as our first Design Champion is a huge step towards putting the issue of good design higher up the agenda. I am very pleased he has accepted the role and I look forward to working closely with him.”
The role of Liverpool City Region Design Champion will be to promote good design and kick start a conversation about the importance of design throughout the city region. Find out more here.
Planning permission has been granted by St Albans Council for the new BRE Open Innovation Hub, the first major new building to be constructed on the leading research institute’s Garston campus in twenty years. The Open Innovation Hub, part funded by Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, will provide office and collaborative space on split levels for large organisations, SMEs and start-ups to come together to work and develop new technologies and processes for the construction industry. Daylight and thermal comfort, alongside passive design strategies, have been intrinsic to the project since inception; reflecting the BRE’s mission, the Hub’s design will represent a partnership between architecture and engineering, and demonstrate the BRE’s own standards and tools – fittingly, it will be the first building in the world to target BREEAM Outstanding accreditation using the updated and more stringent New Construction 2018 assessment.
Continuing a successful week in awards, Television Centre has won the Commercial Award at the Brick Awards. Judges described it as ‘a thoughtful and well-conceived development that successfully rehabilitates Television Centre into a mixed use residential, office and retail development ... [it] responds well to the existing fabric and integrates the new additions carefully and with respect.’ See the full judges’ comments and other winners here. Meanwhile, three AHMM projects have been named Civic Trust Regional Finalists. Weston Street, White Collar Factory and Television Centre will now be considered for national awards, announced in December. Find out more about the Civic Trust finalists here.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has been named Architectural Practice of the Year by Building Magazine. Announced at a ceremony last night (6 November), the award recognises the practice’s all-round performance including commercial success, projects, and approach to staff, clients, partners and the environment. Weston Street, White Collar Factory, Signal Townhouses and Television Centre were also shortlisted for project awards at the pan-industry event held in London. This is AHMM’s second practice award of 2018, having been named AJ100 Practice of the Year in June.
Founding director Paul Monaghan has been appointed as a trustee of the Design Council, joining the board responsible for the charity’s strategic direction, governance and delivery. Established in 1944 to support Britain’s economic recovery, the Design Council is an independent body whose purpose is to make life better by design, encouraging public debate and informing government policy. In 2011, the Design Council merged with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), extending its remit into design for the built environment where it delivers independent and expert design consultation; Paul has previously been a member of CABE’s National Design Review Panel and chaired its Schools Design Review Panel.
AHMM architect Dora Felekou has won a competition to design a new café for Croydon as part of the AHMM-designed Taberner House development. The project’s client HUB launched the competition in July, challenging AHMM architects to design the café in response to community design workshops focusing on the Queen’s Gardens, which are adjacent to the Taberner House site and form part of the overall project. Eight shortlisted teams presented their designs to the client and local stakeholders to decide the winning entry. Dora’s ‘House of Cards’ entry was announced as the winner at an event held at AHMM’s London office, hosted by associate director Susie le Good and Steve Sanham, managing director at HUB.
Edinburgh City Council has resolved to grant planning permission for a series of AHMM-designed office buildings within a wider mixed use masterplan led by Dixon Jones Architects six miles west of Edinburgh city centre. The buildings will provide over half a million square feet of offices and related amenity facilities, as part of the extension and re-invention of the existing office campus. The first new building, at five storeys, will provide offices, a 200-seat conference centre, a café, and a restaurant and music venue facing onto a new public square, with trams serving an adjacent stop. The wider proposals for the 43-acre masterplan developed for landowner Parabola include up to 1800 new residential units, a centralised car-park and energy centre, and a series of public squares and gardens. Construction is expected to begin in early 2019.
Four AHMM projects have been shortlisted for this year’s AJ Architecture Awards. Liverpool’s Royal Court has been shortlisted for Cultural Project of the Year, Weston Street for Housing Project of the Year (up to £10m) and White Collar Factory and Television Centre for Mixed Use Project of the Year. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony held at the Roundhouse in London on 4 December.
White Collar Factory has won the British Council for Offices’ national Innovation Award, announced last night (2 October) at a ceremony in London. It was also highly commended in the Commercial Workplace category, having won the BCO’s London regional award earlier this year. Judges commented that White Collar Factory had ‘challenged the very concept of the workplace’ and praised the ‘positive impact the development has had on the local environment’. Find out more about this year’s BCO winners here.
The Alder Centre has been announced as one of ten category winners of WAFX Prizes, special awards given by the World Architecture Festival that aim to recognise projects entered for the WAF Awards that address key ecological and societal changes. The Alder Centre won the WAFX Ageing and Health category and will now be considered for the overall WAFX Prize, which will be announced at the World Architecture Festival held in Amsterdam from 28-30 November; the project has also been shortlisted for a WAF Award along with Weston Street, Signal Townhouses, Television Centre, White Collar Factory, University of Amsterdam, and Blossom Street.
Weston Street has won the Sunday Times British Homes Award for Small Development of the Year. Described by the judges as ‘thoughtful, well considered and generous’, the project also earned AHMM the award for Architect of the Year. The British Homes Awards celebrate all aspects of housebuilding, from one-off houses to major developments, interiors to landscaping, individual extensions to placemaking; find out more about the winning schemes here. Meanwhile, White Collar Factory has picked up the Estates Gazette Creative Spaces Award – find out more about the EG Awards here.
AHMM is once again taking part in Open House London, the annual architecture festival that gives public access to hundreds of buildings across the city. This year’s programme takes place this weekend, and six AHMM buildings join the programme with architect-led tours of New Scotland Yard, Television Centre and White Collar Factory; The Library at Willesden Green, Barking Town Centre and the Barbican Centre will also be open to the public. Find out more about these and the full programme here.
The career and business social network Linkedin has agreed the pre-let of The Ray in Clerkenwell. The seven-storey building, rated BREEAM Outstanding, also offers a mix of affordable workspace, hospitality and retail units. To the rear, the building’s stepped massing provides every level of office space with its own planted terrace. Fit out commenced in August 2018 with its new tenants taking possession in January 2019.
The Bower Phase 2 has reached practical completion. The mixed use development transforms a group of 1960s buildings on Old Street roundabout into a coherent mix of workspace, ground floor retail, restaurants and public realm, with a new pedestrian link from Old Street through to Baldwin Street. The second phase has seen the most dramatic reinvention on site: the 17 storey tower has been stripped back to its original slab and the floorplate extended north and south, creating interconnecting double height spaces. Fit out begins in autumn 2018, with the first occupiers aiming to move in by Christmas.
Two AHMM projects have won AJ Retrofit Awards: Quadrant 4 for Best Housing (£5m and over); and Television Centre for Listed Building (£5m and over). The awards, organised by the Architects' Journal, were announced last night at a ceremony in London, and the Record Store at the Vinyl Factory in west London was also shortlisted. Last year, New Scotland Yard won the award for Best Office over 10000m2 , and previous AHMM winners have included Liverpool’s Royal Court and the University of Amsterdam. Find out more about this year’s Retrofit Awards winners here.
Work has begun on site at Riverside House, a new build office that forms part of the wider New Bailey masterplan in Salford, also the location of Two New Bailey Square. Positioned at the east corner of the new development, at the head of the Grade II listed Irwell Street Bridge, Riverside House acts a gateway to the city centre. On completion the project will provide over 1400 sqm of office space with a food retailer and riverside terrace at ground floor. Two of the existing late Victorian Gothic facades will be retained, and the extended floor plate is wrapped in a contemporary reinterpretation; a new glazed third storey and roof terrace caps the building. Riverside House is due to complete in June 2019.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris has begun a new mentoring programme supporting a group of young people from the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. Ten mentees at different stages of their architectural careers, from universities and practices across the city joined us at our London office to meet their AHMM mentors. The programme will last six months with the aim of reducing barriers disadvantaged young people face on their journey into work, and enable them to make informed decisions about their careers, set goals and develop their interpersonal skills. You can find out more about the mentorship programme and how you can get involved here.
Demolition works have started on site at Park West in downtown Oklahoma City. The former transmission shop will be transformed into Social Capitol, a community focused food and beer hall with sheltered courtyards and an upper level terrace overlooking Scissortail Park. Key elements of the existing structure will be retained and restored to preserve the character of the original building, while the existing roof structure has been removed and will be replaced before interior refurbishment begins.
Two New Bailey Square is progressing on site with the perimeter basement piling almost complete. Bulk excavation will begin soon, signalling the start of single storey basement construction. The new 11-storey office building is part of the English Cities Fund regeneration of over 50 acres of Salford’s civic and historic centre; when complete 2 New Bailey will offer 17,300 square metres of office space within an elegantly fabricated, externally exposed steel structure. The building is scheduled to be completed by June 2020.
AHMM is once again taking part in Open House London, the annual architecture festival that gives public access to hundreds of buildings across the city. This year’s programme takes place on the weekend of 22 and 23 September, and seven AHMM buildings join the programme with architect-led tours of , New Scotland Yard, Television Centre and White Collar Factory; The Library at Willesden Green, Barking Town Centre and the Barbican Centre will also be open to the public. Find out more about these and the full programme here.
Planning permission has been granted for King’s Cross P2, a key piece of the emerging King’s Cross Central masterplan for King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership. Acting as a backdrop to the newly-completed Lewis Cubitt Square, the mixed-use building includes nine floors of office space - one of three new office bases for Facebook - with a large flexible retail unit at street level. The mix of uses is completed by a 600-seat theatre with an auditorium capable of a variety of staging configurations to create a visible and vibrant cultural attraction.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Alison Brooks Architects and Pollard Thomas Edwards have submitted plans for a mixed-use development in Tottenham Hale, North London. The Masterplan, for developer Argent Related, comprises six buildings and a pavilion arranged across five plots. The project will deliver 1,036 new homes, a cinema, office and retail space and a new health centre.
AHMM has designed three buildings on The Ferry Island and North Island sites. Buildings one and two, on Ferry Island will occupy the area between the Tottenham Hale bus station and the reconfigured Station Road. Both buildings will provide a mix of residential, office and retail space with a new cinema at basement level. Building three is also mixed-use and will provide residential, flexible retail as well as leisure accommodation.
The proposal will go before the committee later this year.
AHMM has celebrated five awards wins this week. On Monday, Housing Design Awards were given to Weston Street and Signal Townhouses. The Housing Design Awards were launched in 1948 to reward better municipal post-war rebuilding and now aim to identify exemplars across both public and market housing; you can see all of this year’s winners here. At the New London Awards on Wednesday, White Collar Factory was announced the winner of the Wellbeing category, while 1 Finsbury Avenue won the Offices (Unbuilt) category; find out more about the New London Awards and winning projects here. Later that evening, One King William Street was named the City of London’s Best Retrofit by the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects.
The 1-5 Benjamin Street team celebrated the building reaching its highest point with a ceremony on site this week. The design for Benjamin Street is a modern interpretation of a Victorian brick warehouse replacing two existing buildings on a site that has been owned by the Worshipful Company of Girdlers for more than 400 years. Located in the Clerkenwell Conservation Area and very close to the new Crossrail hub at Farringdon, the new building will include a mix of offices, retail and apartments, and is due to complete later this year.
Weston Street, White Collar Factory, and Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre have won 2018 RIBA National Awards, announced today.
RIBA judges commented that White Collar Factory’s ‘ambition and level of innovation of the brief and concept development is high’, and they noted ‘the confidence that the client had in trusting their own instincts and their architect's ideas’. Weston Street, meanwhile, was praised for its use of board-marked concrete and timber but also its ‘sense of fun providing an alternative model for the modern home.’ Highlighting the architects’ ‘sustained commitment, skill and ingenuity’ in addressing the physical and economic constraints at Liverpool’s Royal Court they commented that ‘a real sense of welcome, delight and even theatrical grandeur have been achieved... a difficult urban site has been made more civic and welcoming.’
RIBA National Awards are given to buildings across the UK recognised as significant contributions to architecture, and may be considered for the Stirling Prize shortlist. Find out more about this year’s winners here.
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris was named Practice of the Year at the AJ100 Awards ceremony last night (13 June), having been placed fourth in the AJ100 rankings. The Architect’s Journal compiles its annual list of the top 100 practices from a survey of numbers of qualified architects, practice turnover and project work, while award winners are decided by a panel of judges. AHMM was also shortlisted for Clients’ Choice and Building of the Year (for White Collar Factory), and the practice’s four founding directors were nominated for the Contribution to the Profession Award. Find out more about the AJ100 list and award winners here.
This July, more than 30 AHMM staff, members of the Alder Centre project team, and friends of the practice are taking part in the Alder Centre Cycle Classic, a 360km charity ride from London to Liverpool over two days. The group of cyclists will leave from AHMM’s London office on the morning of Thursday 5 July and be welcomed at the NHS Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool the following afternoon. This challenging ride will raise much needed funds for the Alder Centre, a new building at Alder Hey that will provide counselling and support for anyone affected by the death of a child. To enhance the building, the team wants to go the extra mile to ensure that the interiors and surrounding natural environment are also the best quality they can be. While funds for the building itself are in place, funding for these additional elements will have to be raised to create a calm and tranquil place surrounded by a beautiful garden space. You can find out more and support our fundraising here.
Grand Lake Poolhouse has won an American Institute of Architects (AIA) Small Project Award. One of 11 projects from across the United States to be honoured this year, the Poolhouse – a pair of glazed and timber-clad pavilions containing a pool and spa – overlooks the Grand Lake o’The Cherokees in north eastern Oklahoma. Judges praised the ‘functional and beautiful’ project’s ‘crystal clear diagrammatic solution.’ The national Small Project Awards are open to all sizes of practice but recognise and promote excellence in small project design, raising public awareness of the value that architects bring to projects regardless of size and scope. Find out more about the awards and this year’s winners here.
Weston Street, White Collar Factory, Upper Richmond Road and Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre have all won 2018 RIBA Regional Awards, announced this week in London and Liverpool.
Judges described Upper Richmond Road as ‘a fine example of how to create a place that responds to its city context, brings life to the street, offers commercial activity where suitable and creates a place to live at density that is delightful,’ and White Collar Factory as ‘an exemplary development full of quality materials, finishes, details and playfulness; alongside public and community spirited generosity, innovation and experimentation’. Weston Street, meanwhile, was praised for its ‘exquisitely crafted modern homes’ and ‘tactile choice of materials coupled with beautiful interior detailing.’ Choosing Liverpool’s Royal Court as one of its regional winners, RIBA North West judges noted AHMM’s ‘sustained and intelligent commitment to the project’; and in recognition of the ‘astute conservation, in keeping with the spirit of the building... achieved on a low budget’ they also gave the project the region’s Conservation Award.
A Regional Award recognises a building’s regional importance as a piece of architecture, and winners are considered for RIBA National Awards, announced in June. Find out more about this year’s regional winners here.
Work has begun on site at 2 New Bailey Square in Salford. The new 11-storey office building is part of the English Cities Fund regeneration of over 50 acres of Salford’s civic and historic centre. When complete 2 New Bailey will offer 17,300 square metres of office space within an elegantly fabricated, externally exposed steel structure. The building is scheduled to be completed by June 2020.
AHMM has been shortlisted for the AJ100 Practice of the Year as part of the Architects’ Journal’s annual AJ100 survey and ranking. White Collar Factory has also been shortlisted for Building of the Year, while the practice’s four founding directors have been nominated for the Contribution to the Profession Award. Winners will be announced at the AJ100 dinner on 13 June.
AHMM’s redevelopment of the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus has been given an RIBA Award for International Excellence, one of just 20 new buildings in 16 countries around the world to have been recognised with the award this year.
With the recent completion of its second phase, the Roeterseiland Campus is now home to the Amsterdam Law School and the University’s Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, its original 1960s buildings having been completely transformed and set within a new and revitalised public realm focused on its canalside location. The award judges praised the scheme’s ‘purpose and conviction... both bold and at times restrained’ and noted that the reinvention of the campus into ‘a fully functional university for the 21st century, over 11 years, two construction phases, over three connected buildings, with five generations of client representation – is a huge achievement.’
Winners of the RIBA Awards for International Excellence have been chosen from the RIBA International List of the world’s best new buildings. Find out more about the RIBA’s international awards here.
Planning consent has been granted by Wiltshire Council for a new development of 56 new homes to be built on the site of the former Westbury Hospital, which closed in 2012. Located less than a mile from the centre of Westbury, the development will include a range of housing types from two- to four-bedroom homes, arranged around communal open green spaces. Hedgerows and trees are to be widely retained, with additional trees and vegetation planted. Westbury is AHMM’s second project for developer Backhouse, following the Castle Cary scheme in Somerset which recently started on site.
Planning permission for the redevelopment of Arthur Stanley House in Fitzrovia has been granted by Camden Council. The site is part of the Charlotte Street conservation area, and is bounded by Charlotte Street and Goodge Street to the south and Tottenham Court Road to the east. Designed by TP Bennett in 1965, the former office building has been vacant since 2005, when the University College London Hospital Trust relocated. The new mixed-use scheme will see the refurbishment and extension of the existing building to provide small and flexible office floorplates, ten new residential units, and provision for a GP surgery.
White Collar Factory received two awards from the British Council for Offices’ (BCO) London region yesterday (18 April), winning the Commercial Workplace and Innovation accolades. Judges commented that the project had ‘truly broken the mould’ and that it would ‘deliver lessons for office development for years to come’. The project will now be considered for the BCO’s national awards, given in October. Later the same day, Weston Street was awarded a commendation by the American Institute of Architects’ UK chapter at their annual Excellence in Design Awards gala. Find out more about the BCO Awards here.
Television Centre was officially opened last week with a public celebration across three days. Starting on Thursday evening (12 April), a launch was hosted at 2TVC by clients Stanhope, Mitsui Fudosan and Aimco, joined by the Japanese ambassador to the UK, and entertained by the BBC Concert Orchestra who played a special through-the-ages set. Guests including members of the new TVC community filled the connecting bridges in the atrium of 2TVC, a new nine-storey office building that replaces the ‘stem’ of the original TVC ‘question mark’. Celebrations continued through Friday and Saturday with the Live at Television Centre Festival on the forecourt, with food stalls, pop-ups and a music programme including DJs and a live performance of BBC theme tunes from the Concert Orchestra.
The Fitzroy in Falmouth has reached its highest point, a milestone marked with a topping out ceremony held on site by the construction team. The project, which started on site in November 2017, uses sustainable cross laminated timber (CLT) construction, which was selected to reduce time on site in the potentially challenging coastal environment. The Fitzroy will be the UK’s first retirement development built using the system, and follows AHMM’s recent CLT work at Alconbury Weald Club, Ermine Street Primary Academy, and Surrey Lane in Wandsworth.
Five AHMM projects have been shortlisted for this year’s RIBA Regional Awards. Weston Street, Upper Richmond Road, Hawley School and White Collar Factory are among the 93 buildings shortlisted within the London region, while Liverpool’s Royal Court Theatre has been shortlisted in the RIBA North West region. Shortlisted projects will be visited over the next month, and winning projects will be announced in May. A RIBA Regional Award is given to a UK building for its regional importance as a piece of architecture; winners are considered for RIBA National Awards, announced later in the year. Find out more about the RIBA Awards and see past winners here.
119 Farringdon Road has celebrated reaching its highest point. The AHMM design team joined the construction team from McLaren and representatives from client Viridis in a ceremony held on Thursday 22 March. The mixed use building replaces the former Guardian newspaper headquarters and is AHMM’s second intervention on Farringdon Road in recent years, following its refurbishment of 20 Farringdon Road completed in 2107. The new office-led scheme includes affordable workspace, hospitality and retail set within new and enhanced areas of public realm that re-establish connections to historic streets and spaces.
Last week the jury for the RIBA International Prize visited the University of Amsterdam’s Roeterseiland Campus, reinvented by AHMM and completed earlier this year. The campus, now home to the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Faculty of Law, has been redeveloped from an incomplete masterplan by Norbert Gawronski, who originally designed the two main existing buildings that have been retained and redeveloped to provide new teaching spaces, lecture theatres, meeting rooms, social spaces and libraries, alongside new public realm and previously concealed canalscape. The International Prize is awarded to a building by an architect anywhere in the world which exemplifies design excellence, architectural ambition and delivers meaningful social impact, and this year’s winner will be announced in November. Find out more here.
AHMM has become the first architecture practice to sponsor the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust’s Building Futures programme, providing funding as well as mentoring for aspiring young architects from underrepresented backgrounds. The sponsorship campaign will enable the Trust to establish a new London-wide mentoring programme specific to the built environment and develop its Social Value Enhancement programmes. AHMM Director Jonathan Hall will also be running this year’s London Marathon with the Stephen Lawrence Trust team, raising funds to support the work of the organisation. You can sponsor Jonathan here. Established in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawrence, who was an aspiring architect, the Trust has awarded over 120 bursaries to disadvantaged young people wishing to pursue a career in architecture, and has expanded the support to include mentoring, work opportunities and affordable accommodation for students. Find out more here.
Three AHMMers have set off on the Club Peloton Cycle to MIPIM this morning. Associate director Cormac Farrelly, associate Lloyd Spencer and architectural assistant Oliver Dyson will be cycling up to 1500km from London to Cannes, and as in 2017 AHMM has also sponsored en-route snacks and treats for all Club Peloton cyclists. Each year the event raises money for charities including Coram, and this time half of funds raised by AHMM will be given to our charity of the year, the Alder Centre for Child Bereavement. Oliver will be guest posting on AHMM’s Instagram throughout the ride - you can follow the team’s progress here.
London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ Strategic Development Committee has granted planning permission for the council’s new civic centre in Whitechapel. The council will be moving from its current headquarters at East India Dock to the Grade II listed former Royal London Hospital, a well-known landmark in the East End. The move will consolidate a number of council offices into one location and offer a broad range of public services to the borough’s residents, including a new library, a cafe and reception facilities. The former hospital building will be restored and a new build extension added along its southern edge. The extension will provide six upper levels of open plan office for council staff and partner organisations, and at ground level a new council chamber and associated meeting facilities will form the borough’s democratic focus. The project is due to start on site later this year with completion programmed for late 2021.
Despite the freezing temperatures, Notting Dale Village Phase 3 – known as The George Building – celebrated reaching its highest point on Wednesday (28 February). The George Building joins the Yellow Building (phase 1) and the White Building and Studio Building (phase 2) at the Notting Dale Village site beside the West Cross Route. On completion the George will offer 60,000sqft of commercial office and retail space and a separate nine unit residential building. The ceremony was attended by director Simon Allford and the AHMM design team, as well as Cliff Thomas, managing director of Kier Construction, the main contractor and client Peter Simon from Adena Properties, who completed the ceremonial topping out with his two daughters.
The Alder Centre in Liverpool has been granted planning approval by Liverpool City Council. The new bereavement counselling centre for Alder Hey children’s hospital will provide a dedicated home for counselling and support services for people affected by the death of a child, including facilities for the hospital’s nationwide child bereavement helpline. The Alder Centre is designed as a series of rooms configured around a heart space, each with large windows looking across a ‘Secret Garden’ or smaller secluded garden spaces according to spatial and privacy needs. AHMM is also supporting fundraising for the fit-out of the building, including through next week’s Cycle to MIPIM.
Construction of Soho Place has moved a step closer as works on Crossrail infrastructure at Tottenham Court Road have completed and the site has been handed over to developer Derwent London. Work can now begin on the AHMM-designed scheme which includes two new mixed-use buildings above Tottenham Court Road underground station which contain retail, offices and a new theatre of up to 600 seats, arranged around a new public space linking Tottenham Court Road to Soho Square.
Three riders from AHMM will be taking part in this year’s Club Peloton Cycle to MIPIM ride. Associate Director Cormac Farrelly, Associate Lloyd Spencer and Architectural Assistant Oliver Dyson will be leaving London on 8 March to complete 1500km over six days, reaching Cannes in time for the MIPIM property conference, and AHMM is once again supporting all Club Peloton riders with sponsorship of treats to sustain them along the route. The annual ride – completed by Tom Gardner, Lloyd and Craig Robertson last year – raises money for charities including Coram, and this year 50% of funds raised by AHMM will be given to the Alder Centre for Child Bereavement. You can sponsor Cormac, Lloyd or Oliver on their Race Nation fundraising pages.
AHMM has completed work on a new Crime Museum for the Metropolitan Police Service. The new museum, located in the basement of New Scotland Yard, will display selected items from the Met’s evidence archive, which was established in the mid-1870s as a teaching tool for its officers in training and, while not open to the public, remains a vital resource for police officers and researchers today. Dark painted walls, soffits and flooring provide a dramatic setting for a contrasting ‘timeline’ of specially-lit white display cabinets and plinths containing the exhibits and artefacts, many of which featured in infamous cases over the Met’s history.
A proposal by AHMM in collaboration with Derwent has made the longlist for a competition to transform Old Street Roundabout, the location of White Collar Factory and The Bower. The competition was launched in December by Islington Council in partnership with the Mayor of London, Transport for London and Hackney Council, seeking proposals for a new gateway structure or public artwork reflecting the area’s identity as a hub for digital innovation. The 39 longlisted entries will be on display at Old Street Yard until 2 March – find out more here.
Planning approval for a new 74-home residential development in Castle Cary, Somerset has been granted by South Somerset District Council. The scheme for new independent developer Backhouse will provide a mix of accommodation, from one-bedroom to five-bedroom homes, arranged around two communal greens and incorporating a protected oak tree and existing hedgerows. Thirty five percent of the housing will be affordable, in line with local policy.
Hawley School, part of the wider Hawley Wharf Masterplan, has been officially opened by Councillor Georgia Gould, Leader of Camden Council. The single form entry primary school, which first opened its doors to students in November 2016, will see its first year five class join in September this year, reaching its 226 pupil capacity in September 2019.
Paul Monaghan has been awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Sheffield. The degree has been conferred on him as ‘one of Sheffield’s most distinguished architecture graduates [who has] developed a world-leading practice that pursues a socially inclusive and responsive architecture, creating buildings that delight and are environmentally sustainable.’ Paul completed his BSc at the university’s School of Architecture in 1983, and he has been a Visiting Practice Professor since 2011.
As usual at the turn of the year, we’ve taken the opportunity to look back at our achievements over the last 12 months. 2017 was an important year for AHMM, which saw the completion of one of our longest running projects; the publication of three books through our in-house publishing initiative, FifthMan; and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris becoming an Employee Ownership Trust.