Gainsford Road in Walthamstow has been Locally Listed by London Borough of Waltham Forest. This project for Pocket Living provides 45 affordable one-bedroom homes for first-time buyers in Walthamstow, meeting the borough’s housing aspirations while making a lasting contribution to the area. With the challenge of creating a high density, cost-efficient block of flats in a low-rise area, we drew from the local context for rich design inspiration.

The ‘Local Heritage List’ is unique to Waltham Forest, and includes buildings identified by the public, local community groups, and the Council. No.47 Gainsford Road is recognised for being an example of high quality contemporary architecture, which reflects the borough’s Exemplar Design approach.

“Waltham Forest’s Local Heritage List celebrates the buildings and structures that have architectural, historical or cultural significance, which make the borough a special place with a distinctive character. The aim of the document is to highlight unique and interesting places, raising awareness about the borough’s history and the sites that are valued locally.” - London Borough of Waltham Forest.

3 Mills Studios was awarded Highly Commended at the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards 2024. Congratulations to the team!

3 Mills Studios is a retrofitted series of historic buildings in east London, delivering cutting-edge facilities for film and TV production. This project encourages the establishment of new business and employment opportunities onto the 3 Mills Studios site and the Bromley-by-Bow area, continuing the growth of film, TV and related industries in east London and contributing to the wider regeneration of the area.

We are pleased to share that Unity Place has been shortlisted for the RIBA Neave Brown Award for affordable housing. The four shortlisted buildings all demonstrate social housing that blends quality design, community regeneration, and meaningful social value.

Unity Place is a social housing scheme delivered in collaboration with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Alison Brooks Architects, for London Borough of Brent. Our three modern mansion blocks replace two derelict 1960s towers, providing exceptionally high quality, bright and spacious homes, reintegrating the site and its communities into the wider neighbourhood grain.

Chair of this year’s jury, Astrid Smitham stated: “At a time when the UK sets out to build 1.5 million new homes, this shortlist highlights the importance of strong partnerships between clients and architects in delivering housing of the highest standard, which everyone deserves…”

Wonderful news for Unity Place, winner in the Affordable Housing Category at the British Homes Awards 2024. Unity Place marks the transformation of a derelict 1960’s tower block into 100% affordable, medium-rise development delivering 235 homes in South Kilburn, London.

Unity Place was designed in collaboration with Alison Brooks Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCBStudios). Congratulations to the team, and to our client Brent Council.

We’re delighted to be part of the design team for Vestry House Museum, led by Studio Weave. The architecturally ambitious proposals are guided by a sustainable approach and care for the historic building, which aims to make as few changes as possible to allow the museum to flourish.

Appointed by Waltham Forest Council, the team has received planning approval for the proposed £4.5 million revitalisation of Vestry House Museum, having worked closely with the Council’s Culture team, local residents and community groups to develop the proposal which will transform the museum. Studio Weave has led a team including Webb Yates (Civil Engineering), Verity-Jane Keefe (Artist/Engagement), Gort Scott’s Sela-Jaymes Taylor (Conservation Architect) and Tom Massey (Horticulture).

The proposal adds new spaces including new creative workspaces and a café as well as caring for and adapting the historic buildings and gardens — increasing the museum’s capacity, expanding the displays and improving access. Read more in the Architects’ Journal.

Image courtesy: Studio Weave.

Starting on-site next month: The reuse and refurbishment of Silver Street public toilets in Cambridge City Centre.

The scheme includes providing a new above ground accessible toilet block alongside refurbishing the existing below ground facilities. The proposed public toilets take the form of a small, lightweight pavilion that sits atop a concrete base on Silver Street bridge. The filigree metalwork draws inspiration from the work of the silversmiths that historically occupied the street.

Being largely located beneath the street at river level, the existing facilities suffer from poor and congested access and are currently closed due to maintenance issues.

The proposed above ground structure occupies a smaller area than the existing toilets and contains a wheelchair-accessible toilet with baby changing facilities. A cylindrical rooflight draws natural light into the space below. The existing below ground toilets are rearranged and refurbished and a new stair enclosure provided at street level. The design is driven by inclusive values and an aspiration to support the needs of all users, from the organisation of space to signage and management systems.

Gort Scott and Pocket Living are hosting a guided tour of Forest Road for Open House Festival 2024.

Located in Walthamstow and completed in 2024, Forest Road provides 90 affordable one-bedroom homes for local first-time buyers. The tour will be led by project architect Andrew Tam.

Saturday 14 September 2024
Free Guided Tour, 14:00–15:00

458 Forest Road, Walthamstow E17 4PZ
Tube: Walthamstow Central

Book your tickets via Open House Festival

Access: The tour will last 1 hour. There are step-free routes, seating available, and accessible toilets.

Following on from our recent ‘town hall’ meeting at Gort Scott, which allowed the whole practice to workshop key sustainability objectives, the Environmental Action Group have finalised their Sustainable Design Roadmap in line with guidance from Architects Declare UK. The roadmap is designed to track a realistic course to meet our targets in 2030 and give guidance on the steps we need to take to get there.

The practice roadmap is intended to be used by staff of all levels and has allowed us to articulate the following objectives.

• To review our current progress as a practice against best practice standards across the built environment.
• To provide guidance for all staff when helping to develop / advocate for a strong sustainability brief.
• To provide an indication of what best practice looks like during project design development.
• To establish key knowledge and learning objectives we need to put in place as a practice to reach these goals.

Following the roadmap’s successful launch, we hope to re-invigorate our conversations around sustainability and consider how our working groups and collaborators can help us meet these challenging longer-term targets.

3 Mills Studios is shortlisted in the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards 2024, in the Adaptive Reuse into Office category.

3 Mills is a unique remnant of historic London and one of the UK’s foremost film and TV production studios. The locally listed Gin Still, Grade II listed Custom House and the Rush House were brought back into use, creating over 10,000 sq.ft of new workspace. Gort Scott – alongside Freehaus – worked alongside the 3 Mills team and LLDC to deliver a project that balances the adaptation of historic buildings with the needs of creative businesses using the site. A long-life loose fit approach provides flexible spaces that can support different configurations and uses.

To preserve the industrial character of the Gin Still, a new structure was inserted into the building, decorated in bold colour and establishing a clear dialogue between new and historic fabric. A passive first approach upgraded the envelope, and utilises its volume and thermal mass to provide natural ventilation.

The 2024 Brick Awards Shortlist is now live, and we’re pleased to see Forest Road is shortlisted in the Medium Housing Development category.

Designed for Pocket Living, Forest Road provides 90 affordable one-bedroom homes for local first-time buyers and makes excellent use of an under-utilised site, to provide 100% affordable homes. Forest Road is situated opposite the William Morris Gallery — the Grade II* listed former home of the Arts & Crafts activist in the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

For Forest Road, Gort Scott has evolved the language of brick and precast concrete decorative details first developed at nearby Gainsford Road (Gort Scott for Pocket Living, completed 2018), maintaining visual continuity across the two schemes to create a relatable identity whilst giving Forest Road its own distinct character.

Inspired by the curved bay windows of the William Morris Gallery, lintels are gently concave to catch soft shadows that animate with changing light. All precast elements are coloured to match the pink/red tones of Floren Vecchio brick. The material palette contains a mix of warm white, grey, plum, pink and red tones acknowledging the diverse colours of surrounding buildings, with a storey-height band of darker bricks forming a base to the building.

For London Festival of Architecture 2024 we hosted a ‘Studio Late’ event at our Bermondsey office. Nine of our retrofit projects were on display in the form of table-top project displays, produced especially for LFA visitors and situated over three floors of the building.

In addition to this, Gort Scott’s Retrofit and Heritage Knowledge Group created a set of 10 guiding principles for our work in retrofit: titled ‘Our Retrofit Manifesto’. Click here to read the Manifesto and download a PDF copy. There is also a large-scale version displayed on our office wall.

In our work, we prioritise the retrofit of existing buildings and have a deep care for historic fabric, learning from its layout and construction. Retrofit appeals to us on many levels: It answers our sense of civic and sustainable responsibility and our appetite for problem solving. Fundamentally, we enjoy it: The constraints of retrofit are a spring­board for good design, demanding the imagination to pursue unexpected directions, questioning, and collaborating until everything fits into place.

Gort Scott is taking part of London Festival of Architecture 2024 on Thursday 20th June by welcoming curious LFA guests through the doors of our self-built, retrofitted Bermondsey studio. Guests can browse drawings, samples, have a drink and engage with members of the studio.

Projects on show will focus on how buildings and spaces in cities evolve over time, and are creatively re-purposed and retrofitted. Projects include creative studios, life sciences, educational spaces, public realm and masterplans. Gort Scott has a natural affinity with retrofit: It sits well with our environmental concerns and love for thoughtful, contextual design. Guests can chat with our architects and urban designers - advocates for repurposing and reimagining existing buildings - to spark conversations around the environmental, commercial and social benefits of the retrofit approach within our city.

The evening will be led by members of Gort Scott’s Retrofit Heritage Knowledge Group & Environmental Action Group. Live and built projects will be on display including sketches and a material showcase.

Studio Late with Gort Scott
Thursday 20 June 2024
Drop-in between 18:00-20:00
Free event (no booking required)
Address: 55 Leroy Street, Bermondsey SE1 4SN

We are pleased to announce that our project 3 Mills Studios has won Creative Retrofit 2024 in The Pineapples Awards 2024.

The project involved the transformation of a series of buildings at 3 Mills Studios – For London Legacy Development Corporation.

Three Mills island is a unique remnant of historic London and is the city’s oldest still-surviving industrial centre. The new creative spaces will encourage the establishment of new businesses and employment opportunities by contributing to the economy of the Bromley-by-Bow area and providing a significant investment into the cultural sector, whilst supporting the growing TV and film industry in East London.

The project brings under-used heritage buildings back into life as new spaces, and greatly improves their environmental sustainability, climate resilience and economic viability. The judges commented on the real impact achieved for such a tight budget in this heritage setting and the ambition to consider the open space between the collection of buildings as a future public yard.

Read the full list of winners on The Developer website.

We are delighted that Unity Place has picked up a RIBA London Award 2024. On Friday we attended the awards ceremony alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Alison Brooks Architects, our collaborators on the 100% affordable housing scheme in Brent.

“This project shows how it is possible to provide high-quality, sustainable and affordable housing, embodying the local council’s commitment to elevating the standard of living for its social residents. Through community engagement, careful planning, selection of materials and, importantly, a willingness of the three architectural practices to share a common ambition, language, and goals, Unity Place has set a benchmark for future residential developments.” RIBA Regional Jury

Read the award announcement at RIBAJ.com.

Director Fiona Scott has been invited to join the judging panel for AJ Small Projects 2024. Now in its 29^th year, the awards aim to give much-deserved recognition to schemes realised at a more modest cost (contract value of £350,000 and under).

Architects all over the country are working on projects that may not make headlines but nevertheless provide a real indication of the depth of design talent across the UK today. All the projects entered for the award will be featured in the AJ Buildings Library with the 20 shortlisted projects published in the AJ in April 2024.

The panel of judges will select a winner after reviewing the shortlisted entries, due to be presented on Wednesday 1st May at Hawkins\Browns’s Clerkenwell office.