{"id":770649,"date":"2025-01-27T07:46:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T07:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=770649"},"modified":"2025-01-27T15:12:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T15:12:42","slug":"drmms-mix-and-match-hybrid-at-hackney-wick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/drmms-mix-and-match-hybrid-at-hackney-wick","title":{"rendered":"dRMM\u2019s mix and match hybrid at Hackney Wick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2012 London Olympic Games shone a light on the east London neighbourhood of Stratford and, in the afterglow of the sweeping regeneration of the area in the lead-up to the games, the surrounding neighbourhoods of Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow too began to see development. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) was responsible not only for creating the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, but for transforming this site and its surrounding areas into a new piece of city: \u2018an inclusive community, a thriving business zone and a must-see destination where people will choose to live, work and play\u2019, as the LLDC describes it. <\/span><\/p>\n

One such area is Fish Island in Tower Hamlets to the west of the Olympic Park, where, at the time of the games, still stood the factories and sheds that characterised this industrial district. More recently, it has seen a spate of residential and mixed-use development, often at the expense of the artists and other creative practitioners who have been displaced from the havens they made out of these sites. Wick Lane, a mixed-use scheme by dRMM, aims to address the heritage of the area, while providing a new model for living and working.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Wick Lane is a \u2018Co-Location\u2019 scheme as defined under the Mayor of London\u2019s Good Growth by Design initiative for projects that combine industrial and residential spaces, thereby addressing both housing targets and the retention of the capital\u2019s industrial capacity. It is located on a site that has previously hosted a smattering of industrial uses: an MDF-cutting workshop, a studio for the artist Gavin Turk and a lot for car rental company Sixt, which partly owned the site with IDM Properties. The asset changed hands during the project\u2019s planning process but dRMM was retained as architect, eventually delivering the scheme for volume housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, which also acted as main contractor.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

dRMM \u2019s involvement with the location began in 2013 when it co-authored the LLDC\u2019s Design and Planning Guidance document for Hackney Wick and Fish Island. Through this it developed the framework for safeguarding the area\u2019s heritage assets and retaining its character, forming the bedrock of the development project the practice would undertake a few years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wick Lane sits just south of the Fish Island Conservation Area, with its Victorian brick buildings and chimney stacks. Further south is an area designated as Strategic Industrial Land (SIL) and the orientation of Wick Lane buildings therefore had to respond to this context \u2013 everything fronting the main road to the south is for commercial and light industrial uses, acting as a buffer to noise from traffic and the adjacent SIL site. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wick Lane is bounded on the north by the Greenway, a foot and cycle path that runs alongside Bazalgette\u2019s northern outfall sewer between the Royal Docks to the east and Victoria Park to the west. The arrangement of the buildings is broken up to retain existing cycle routes through the site and to avoid an inconveniently located Thames Water sewer head. Any leftover space is given over to pocket gardens designed by Grant Associates, combined with landscaped podium levels that create elevated walkways and open courtyards.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The project comprises 175 mixed-tenure homes, with 40 per cent either affordable rent or shared ownership, and provides 2,250m2<\/sup> of light industrial, workplace and retail units. The masterplan retains something of a human scale, thanks to the six-storey height restriction for new developments set by the local plan, though not all of the buildings test this limit. \u2018We designed them in response to the kinds of spaces you already have in Fish Island,\u2019 explains Wick Lane project architect Will Howard. \u2018Some of them are quite small and some of them are lofty \u2013 people seem to like that character.\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Aesthetically, Wick Lane is a sm\u00f6rg\u00e5sbord of the area\u2019s industrial history, with each building featuring one primary material applied extensively to all surfaces, a move which lends each its own character within the masterplan. One structure is faced with red brick, laid in varying courses, evoking 19th century Victorian mill buildings and jazzed up with red steel-framed windows and balconies.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a replica 1930s modernist factory in black brick, with matching black Crittall-style windows. The rest reference more contemporary industrial sheds with a turquoise standing seam exterior and cast glass and pale grey corrugated metal cladding.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Key features are repeated to achieve some coherence across these distinct buildings: Machine Age-style sawtooth roofs are used extensively, pitched at the same angle across each application; window sizes are also consistent across multiple faces. External finishes have been painstakingly detailed, such that every joint and bond meets with precision around every corner, opening and snugly recessed rainwater downpipe.<\/span><\/p>\n

This display of industrial typologies might give the impression that the buildings have been designed from the outside in. However, a degree of care has been given to their spatial organisation and internal environments. Their forms are staggered and shifted to maximise daylight into the apartments, 72 per cent of which are dual-aspect, and balconies are arranged to avoid overshadowing neighbours. <\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than restricting the commercial uses to the ground floor and raising the living spaces above \u2013 the so-called \u2018beds above sheds\u2019 approach \u2013 entrances and ground-floor amenity spaces are shared between residents and commercial tenants, while maintaining logical separations between facilities such as loading bays and bicycle parking. As Howard puts it: \u2018We addressed the conflict of having industrial and residential uses on the same site by blurring the boundaries between them.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

One user who enjoys these blurred boundaries is Jay, the proprietor of a rug-making studio whom I encountered on a cold winter morning, the whirr of his tufting gun mixed with smooth jazz spilling onto the street through the open roller shutters of his studio. Jay lives in Ealing but used to operate from a space close by on Fish Island. He watched the development as it went up and moved into his current space shortly after its completion. He was attracted to the amenities and facilities on offer, and to the flourishing of the sort of creative community he had originally sought out in Fish Island.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jay\u2019s studio is one of the spaces let by Tradestars, the business enterprise that runs Wick Lane\u2019s industrial spaces. It provides the units and offers logistical support for a range of businesses including hair and nail salons, a tattoo studio, a screen printing studio and a bike maintenance workshop. Through these spaces, it hopes to retain the community feel and creative character of this rapidly changing east London neighbourhood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Co-location is a relatively new concept, though it has had a few years to percolate through the industry. According to research compiled by built environment consultancy Turley, the co-location schemes granted planning permission in London over the past five years could provide up to 22,500 new homes and 270,000m2<\/sup> of industrial floor space.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

As more of these schemes get delivered, their viability in increasing housing supply and addressing local industrial land needs will become clearer. Wick Lane, in any case, sets a fine blueprint for the model.<\/span><\/p>\n

Derin Fadina is an architectural designer and writer. He teaches at Central Saint Martins and is a New Architecture Writers alumnus.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Project data<\/span><\/h2>\n

Start on site<\/strong> \u200aJuly 2018
\nCompletion<\/b>\u00a0December 2023
\nGross internal floor area<\/b>\u00a0\u200a17,241m2<\/sup>
\nConstruction cost<\/b>\u00a0\u200aUndisclosed
\nConstruction cost per m2<\/sup><\/b>\u00a0Undisclosed
\nArchitect<\/b>\u00a0\u200adRMM Architects
\nClient<\/b>\u00a0Taylor Wimpey London
\nPlanning authority<\/b>\u00a0London Legacy Development Corporation
\nPlanning structural engineer<\/b>\u00a0AECOM
\nExecutive structural engineer <\/b>Clarke Nicholls Marcel
\nFire engineer<\/b>\u00a0AECOM
\nPlanning MEP<\/b>\u00a0Pinnacle ESP
\nExecutive MEP<\/b>\u00a0Venables Associates
\nPlanning landscape architect<\/b>\u00a0Grant Associates
\nExecutive landscape architect<\/b>\u00a0JFA Environmental Planning
\nEnergy and sustainability consultant<\/b>\u00a0Environmental Economics
\nHeritage consultant<\/b>\u00a0Tibbalds
\nCost consultant<\/b>\u00a0Martin Arnold
\nEnergy consultant<\/strong> Carbon Futures<\/span>
\nCommunity engagement<\/b>\u00a0Meeting Place
\nDaylight\/sunlight consultant<\/b>\u00a0Anstey Horne
\nWorkspace fitout <\/b>Tradestars and Sophie Franks Design
\nMain contractor<\/b> \u200aTaylor Wimpey London
\nCAD software used <\/b>REVIT
\nAnnual CO<\/b>2<\/sub><\/b><\/span> emissions<\/b>\u00a020.7 kgCO2<\/sub><\/span>e\/m2<\/sup>.yr (Partial estimate: electricity and gas, using conservative emissions factors and not over-valuing CHP electricity production)<\/p>\n

Sustainability data<\/span><\/h2>\n

Percentage of floor area with daylight factor >2%<\/b>\u00a091% (living, kitchens and dining rooms), 70% (bedrooms)
\nPercentage of floor area with daylight factor >5%<\/b>\u00a021% (living, kitchens and dining rooms), 5% (bedrooms)
\nOn-site energy generation<\/b>\u00a014.6% (0.8% PV panels, 13.8% electricity from CHP)
\nHeating and hot water load<\/b>\u00a060.5 kWh\/m2<\/sup>\/yr (estimate)
\nTotal energy load<\/b>\u00a096.4 kWh\/m2<\/sup>\/yr (heat estimated, electricity measured through survey)
\nCarbon emissions (all)<\/b>\u00a020.7 kgCO2<\/sub><\/span>eq\/m2<\/sup>\/yr (electricity and gas, using conservative emissions factors and not over-valuing CHP electricity production)
\nAnnual mains water consumption<\/b>\u00a041 m3<\/sup>\/occupant\/yr (metered, survey to residents)
\nAirtightness at 50Pa<\/b>\u00a03.6 m3<\/sup>\/hr\/m2<\/sup> (measured, 87 units independently tested)
\nOverall thermal bridging heat transfer coefficient (Y-value)<\/b>\u00a00.12 W\/m2<\/sup>K
\nOverall area-weighted U-value<\/b>\u00a00.48 W\/m2<\/sup>K (Whole fabric, including windows, doors, etc)
\nEmbodied\/whole-life carbon<\/b>\u00a0Not yet calculated
\nPredicted design life in years<\/b>\u00a060 years (standard design assumption)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2012 London Olympic Games shone a light on the east London neighbourhood of Stratford and, in the afterglow of the sweeping regeneration of the area in the lead-up to the games, the surrounding neighbourhoods of Hackney Wick, Leyton and Bow too began to see development. The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) was responsible not …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17071,"featured_media":771144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[706],"tags":[1984,3871,2229],"yoast_head":"\ndRMM\u2019s mix and match hybrid at Hackney Wick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On a challenging post-industrial site at the edge of the Olympic Park, dRMM has created a pioneering hybrid urban district that blurs the boundaries between work and living spaces\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/buildings\/drmms-mix-and-match-hybrid-at-hackney-wick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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