Backed by the Mayor of London and the GLA, the site will be the first to deliver the Mayor’s 100 per cent affordable housing initiative. The site sits within a particularly rich and diverse existing setting in Waltham Forest. Amongst a variety of shops, sporting facilities and industrial estates, the neighbourhood is notably home to many creative workspaces. The proposed development aims to foremost integrate with and contribute to this thriving established community. The proposals look to address the different neighbours across the site. Alongside stepping of housing to meet the adjacent Victorian terrace grain, retail spaces are located at Blackhorse Lane to activate a vibrant urban frontage and 3000m2 of new creative workspaces aim to connect the new development with the wider creative community.

The proposal is developed as an eclectic series of character areas, each with a distinct architectural expression. The public realm looks to provide continuity across the different character areas and create permeable edges to the adjacent streets. Whilst the landscape acts as a necklace of interlinked small parks, vitally connecting locals, pedestrians and cyclists between Blackhorse Lane and Sutherland Road.

The architectural appearance and material choices of the buildings are deliberately diverse. This is in part to give a sense of human scale and to promote an individual identity to each building, but also to resonate with the industrial past of the site and wider area.