Peabody Avenue
Photo: Philip Vile | Additional photos below: Philip Vile, Claire Bennie, Haworth Tompkins Architects
Type: Large Estate Infill
Developer: Peabody
Architect: Haworth Tompkins
Local Authority: Westminster City Council
Peabody Avenue is one of Peabody’s Victorian set-piece estates: but it had a bombed out gap which needed to be stitched up, providing new homes for 150 people. Project managed by Claire, the design and delivery process involved extensive pre-design engagement with the existing community. Not only did this inform the new design, but also many older residents chose to downsize into the new homes, freeing up family housing for overcrowded families in Westminster. The Thamesbank community space also formed part of the brief, and is now a thriving local hub for exercise and arts activities for all ages.
“I’m still pinching myself thinking – is this really mine? I just love it!”
“Claire Bennie, head of development for the Peabody Trust, says that the organisation’s objectives remain the same. “We want to carry on making robust, architecturally beautiful additions to London in the way the trust has always done,” she says. “Some of our buildings have been there for 150 years, and people have to walk past them, so what it looks like and how it sits in the city are absolutely crucial.”… ...Both Coin Street and Peabody are those rare kind of housing developers who look to the long term. They are as interested in the condition of buildings after 100 years as they are in pandering to fashion. We need more developers like them, with the desire to continue a great legacy of public-spirited housing in London.”