Nomination for an Environment Award, 2025.

Finely detailed brickwork is the feature in this new development on the corner of Macfarlane Road and Wood Lane opposite Westfield, designed by Maccreanor Lavington for Peabody Housing Association. It replaces the former BBC car park with a pair of appropriately-sized mid-rise buildings, providing 142 affordable homes in a mixture of shared ownership, London Affordable Rent and London Living Rent with 68 x 1 bed, 67 x 2 bed and 7 x 3-bed flats.

Macfarlane Place – H&C railway line – Westfield Living in the distance, TV centre tower under construction left

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – Wood Lane & public realm

Macfarlane Place – railway line

Macfarlane Place for Peabody Housing Association

Macfarlane Place – entrance

Macfarlane Place – brickwork shutters railings

Macfarlane Road – public realm

There are some echoes of the ‘warehouse chic’ of the 2023 award-winning Hoxton hotel just down the road, plus an echo of the red brick DIMCO buildings on the other side of Wood Lane, which were themselves nominated in 2021.

The use of materials is interesting, and although there is some fakery to the brickwork (common these days), the patterns are original, and the floor to ceiling windows and detailing lift the facades above the ordinary allowing it to not shout ‘social housing’.  Care has been used in the design, and as the RIBA journal notes, it has tenant-friendly touches such as heat-regulating shutters.  The shutters are said to have been designed to reduce overheating, eliminating the need for air conditioning and opening windows onto a potentially noisy Wood Lane, and the Hammersmith & City railway line immediately adjacent. There’s some interesting detailing internally too.  There are a few more photos on our Instagram