Development Projects I'm Most Proud Of: Chater House, Roman Road, Bethnal Green
This is going back a while. It was the 1990s and I'd just moved from Southampton to London and taken on my first team manager role for South London Family Housing Association.
I was given this project to take on a somewhat 'unloved' ex-Council block and turn it into a Shared Ownership scheme. I felt that, to make a success of this, some imagination was going to be required. Working with the Employer's Agents and Architects, we put a lot of work in to the design. We picked up on some elements of the architectural style of the existing building and settled on an art-deco theme to build upon.
The flats were re-configured, and this resulted in creating a couple of maisonettes at the end of some of the upper floors. Space was at a premium in these, so we created maisonettes with spiral staircases (I can't imagine making a choice like that now!). I also remember we paid a lot of attention to the interiors of the new lifts in the block, including installing a faux-walnut finish. All the front doors had port-hole style round windows in them.
It wasn't the cheapest refurbishment, but it stacked up financially, and it looked what I considered to be very attractive at the end of the job. The proof of the pudding was in the sales, which were impressively quick.
I looked the building up and found the photo below on Flickr. I think the building still looks attractive decades later, and the flats seem to be holding their value on the resale market.
For many years since, I've frequently asked colleagues what the USP is for the individual schemes they're working on. Design matters. It's what gives places longevity and enhances people's lives. I know that there's a shortage of affordable housing and an ambition to deliver more at volume, but let's not just throw up ugly crap that we'll be ashamed of as our careers reach maturity.
There are lots of projects ongoing where people put the effort in to creating an attractive place for a community to thrive, but that's not always the case.
Like me, later in your career you'll want to look back on projects you've been involved in and enjoy a little heart swell about places where you really made a difference. Make it happen!
I seem to remember the Architects and Employer's Agents were Baily Garner LLP. #AffordableHousingStory
