Gort Scott were commissioned by Brent Council, with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Alison Brooks Architects, to design a residential-led masterplan as part of the South Kilburn Estate Regeneration Programme.

Completed in 2022, the development provides 235 bright and spacious homes in a cluster of mansion blocks arranged around planted courtyards.

The masterplan establishes a new public park framed by the new buildings and Grade I listed St Augustine’s Church, a landmark recognised for its architectural heritage and social role in the community, providing play space and a pedestrian route through the heart of the site. This re-establishes a historic street, activating the site where the previous urban design made it impermeable and prone to antisocial behaviour. The new park and courtyards are seen as part of a wider north-south sequence of green spaces from Cambridge Gardens to Carlton Vale.

The scheme was designed as a tenure-blind, mixed-tenure scheme, including market sale units. GLA funding has enabled Brent Council to retain 100% of the units as social housing, aimed specifically at existing residents of the borough.

We led a robust engagement process with the existing residents throughout design development. For example, consultation with the significant South Asian community informed the way some of the living spaces in the apartments were designed to meet cultural requirements.

Within this masterplan, we have designed the buildings which face onto the new public park and onto Cambridge Road at the southern edge of the site, including a significant six-storey residential block with 50 units, with parking relocated underground in a shared basement with other buildings in the same cluster.

The elevations have an ordered rhythm and the precast concrete vertical elements on the upper two levels of the building reflect the stone detailing on St Augustine’s Church.

Most of the homes at Unity Place are dual aspect to optimise natural cross ventilation and provide safe overlooking to the communal gardens. The scheme features an underground energy centre to enable a site-wide combined heat and power (CHP) system, which is supported with green roofs, a high-performance envelope and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) to reduce heat loss and energy consumption.