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Architects: Allies and Morrison
- Area: 22548 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Tim Crocker
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Lead Architects: Allies and Morrison
Text description provided by the architects. Hale Wharf occupies a sliver of land where the urban intensity of Tottenham Hale meets designated green belt, the reservoirs and rivers of the Lee Valley, and a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). A residential development for joint venture Waterside Places (Muse Developments and the Canal and River Trust), once complete it will provide 505 homes of a mix of size and tenure. Phase one of the development, 249 homes in the two tallest buildings within the Hale Wharf masterplan, has recently completed.
At the south-eastern tip of the site, the tallest (Navigation Point) rises to 21 storeys before stepping down to 8 as it meets Ferry Lane. Its multi-stock brick envelope is punctuated by a repeating rhythm of recessed metal windows with vertical white aluminium fins and projecting metal balconies, pitched zinc roofs and brick gable ends. To the north, its 14-storey counterpart (Windlass Apartments) is similarly formed, conceived as a robust waterside building and finished in a slightly lighter selection of the same brick and a series of pitched zinc roofs. The building is now 100% BTR and owned by Grainger.
A cluster of small-scale non-residential uses (retail, a cafe, and residents’ facilities) is grouped around Approach Square located where the bridge from Tottenham Hale lands on the island. Three existing barges moored alongside house small businesses, with the potential for additional moorings for similar uses in the future.
Projecting metal balconies provide private amenity space to both buildings and allow homes to profit from the long, spectacular views. The balconies are suspended by metal hangers, influenced by the robust detail of historical waterside buildings, and afford excellent views – across the parkland and wetlands to the east, north, and south of the site, and to the lock and surrounding neighbourhoods to the west. Materials are brick and metal, windows have slim, dark-coloured frames, chosen so that they almost disappear.
Hendrik Heyns, Partner at Allies and Morrison, reflects: “Building at Hale Wharf has been both an intriguing and challenging proposition. It is a very narrow site, with various requirements across it for access linked to the working canal. It was important to deliver a high-density scheme that would make the best use of the site and also address its interstitial location between town and green belt.
“The development embraces its location and the industrial language and character of the new buildings have been essential. The existing site had some light industrial units when we started designing but historically the huge (long gone) Harry Lebus furniture factory had a formidable presence in this area with timber for its use transported along the river and canals and stored in warehouses on the banks. Our new buildings draw on this industrial heritage with a robust architecture and strong roof form.”
