Martlesham and Rochford are two housing retrofit pilot projects which form part of our wider estate framework for Broadwater Farm, a large community-led estate renewal of new council homes, public realm improvements and civic infrastructure in North London.
Originally built in the 1960s, Martlesham and Rochford are two large-panel-system (LPS) buildings which have undergone significant alterations over the last three decades, resulting in buildings which are physically layered, poorly insulated and lack a coherent identity. Critically, these original buildings were also found to contain deep-rooted structural and material risks which, despite a long programme of remedial works, still require considered resolution to bring them up to standard.
Our retrofit and refurbishment designs for these council blocks which we developed from Stage 0-2/3 have sought to resolve a set of core structural issues, understand the accumulated adaptations and explore different options to; significantly improve their thermal performance, extend their lifespan, enhance the quality of the internal living spaces and their external visual appearance.
Ranging from essential retrofit works to address thermal performance and fire safety to more comprehensive interventions which take into account landscaping and the use of the ground floor, we developed four refurbishment scenarios for Haringey Council which are designed to work within allocated public resources and meet current climate targets and policies.
Each of these refurbishment scenarios have been approached holistically, with attention paid to how the existing buildings can be sustainably upgraded and contribute to our wider estate vision, as well as the ways in which their architectural character can be respected and restored. Within these designs, options for converting the open-sided garages to provide a range of new, active uses have been explored to unite the buildings into our wider urban design and public realm strategy.
Martlesham and Rochford are two of a collection of sixteen LPS buildings at Broadwater Farm, and their refurbishment will set an example for how the others can evolve. Before this happens, proposed pilot projects within the original buildings will allow us to test and refine our approaches in-situ to inform a robust set of technical guidelines and standards that these council buildings and others of their kind can follow.