De Beauvoir Estate Phases 1 & 2 ← Works ← Henley Halebrown

De Beauvoir Estate Phases 1 & 2 London 2018–

Henley Halebrown, with Stephen Taylor Architects, are architect and masterplanner for the Hackney Council's De Beauvoir Estate project: 10 buildings on eight sites delivering 341 high-quality homes for market sale and affordable rent, plus over 2,000m² of workspace and shops. A shared 'kit of parts' of dwelling types and construction details ensures architectural consistency, economy and efficiency, while public realm improvements, clearer fronts and backs, and new courts and gardens benefit existing residents and the wider neighbourhood. Phase 1 was granted planning permission in July 2022. Phase 2 is at pre-planning stage.

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The existing estate, which consists of five tower blocks and a series of meandering lower-rise blocks of maisonettes, was designed and built by Burley Associates in the late 1960s on former industrial land on the north bank of the Regent’s Canal, to the south of the De Beauvoir Town Conservation Area
Existing Estate: Fermain Court, looking east. Unlike many estates damaged by waves of maintenance and refurbishment, the architecture of the De Beauvoir Estate remains intact and unusually coherent, characterised by the consistent use of a dark brown brick, white-painted exposed concrete floor slabs, and white windows and yellow spandrel panels
The proposed Balmes Road building from the existing Grow Your Own area.
Isometric view of the Estate, with the proposed Phase 1 and 2 interventions shown
The proposed 81 Downham Road building. The architects have sought to distil and improve on the most successful elements of the existing buildings, developing a ‘kit of parts’ that celebrates the original material, spatial and social ambitions for the estate
Existing site plan
Proposed site plan
A linear block faces onto the Regents Canal
With galleries overlooking a new garden square framed on either side by existing towers
Site plan: Existing and proposed typologies. These elements allow flexibility in creating four new types of buildings: courtyard blocks, corner blocks, terraced houses and a linear block
Design elements include large communal entrance halls, generous circulation and private amenity areas, dual and triple-aspect apartments accessed from communal galleries
Plan: Typical upper floor: Balmes Road, Downham Road East, Downham Road West
Plan: Ground floor, Terraced Houses
Both the courtyard and corner blocks – which bring definition to the estate – offer commercial frontage to Downham Road
Double-height passageways reinforce an existing path that crosses the eastern end of the estate
Phase 2: De Beauvoir Road West
Phase 2: Downham Road
Phase 2: Promenade East
Phase 2: Route East
Phase 2: Route North
Phase 2: Route South
Phase 2: Route West
Site plan

architects Henley Halebrown

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Technical

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