Bream Street received a Housing Design Award at the London awards ceremony.

Located at the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, Bream Street provides 202 new homes that are designed to include a good proportion of 3-bedroom homes for families. Being a social housing provide, the client London and Quadrant, ensured that 50% of the family homes are assigned to the affordable rent tenure.

The masterplan delivers seven new buildings which are set around three shared gardens and a new internal public street while positively engaging with the wider context including the canal, site permeability, existing trees, street frontage and key views. The architecture, aesthetic and character of each building is different, thereby adding to the richness of the masterplan and the Fish Island area.

The gardens were designed to be communal and accessed via the east-west pedestrian route (Navigators Walk). The character of these gardens is more intimate and specific to their use which includes organised play, informal play, relaxation, communal meeting spaces, growing areas, or ornamental green spaces. The project team also agreed with the client to extend the landscape works outside the project boundary to include an area adjacent to the Lock, which provided amenities for the boating community and improved the canal’s infrastructure.

By creating a special place to live and work, Bream Street contributes to the wider regeneration of East London.

Moorland Road in Cardiff received a Housing Design Award in the project category at the Sheffield awards ceremony.

One of three ‘Community Living’ schemes that are being developed concurrently by Cardiff Council, Moorland Road threads together thirteen one and two bed independent living apartments, a community centre and shared garden into a tight corner site within the dense Victorian neighbourhood of Splott.

The design responds to the specific housing requirements of its users, with the core principles established by HAPPI (Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation) being used to guide the process. The building is arranged as three distinct pitched volumes rising from three stories adjacent to the existing residential context to four stories at the street corner. All apartments benefit from dual aspect living spaces with views into the shared garden and private recessed balconies. The new community centre is located on the ground floor and benefits from direct access to the shared garden, while also providing a visual link to this space from the street.