300 Harrow Road

300 Harrow Road has become a site of sustainability, and community enhancement with the completion of a new housing and community project delivering both beauty and affordability within the public realm. The architect Child Graddon Lewis delivers aesthetics that will endure by using wienerberger’s Forum Smoked Prata and Pagus bricks, creating structures that facilitate vibrant and thriving living in London.

A residential-led, new mixed-use scheme for Westminster City Council in North Paddington, Child Graddon Lewis was tasked with creating 87 new homes on 300 Harrow Road. This meant adding new homes in three blocks, stepping down in height from 16 storeys to nine to five, with a nursery and communal space provided on the lower floors. The project was to replace a nursery, community building, and car parking, with the mission of addressing the council's severe need for new affordable housing.

112 new homes were created in the Westminster Borough, all for social or intermediate rent, a significant uplift from the originally briefed 17 new homes planned for social rent. Powered by electricity achieved through the largest air source heat hump of its kind, the buildings are futureproofed for subsequent decarbonisation strides. Carbon savings for the development have been calculated at 110 tonnes of CO2e per year or 72% when compared to a Building Regulation-compliant scheme. 

wienerberger’s Forum Smoked Prata, London White Glazed and Pagus Brown bricks were specified for their look and feel, helping with the project’s contemporary rejuvenation with an elegant contrast of colours that fit with the cohesive feel of the development. The development cuts a brilliant visual within Westbourne Ward, delivering classic aesthetics and charm at the heart of this ‘placed based’ project.

The visual contrast maximises the impact of both the lighter and darker brick choices with the Forum Smoked Prata and Londer White Glazed bricks reflecting sunlight, making the development bright and modern while Pagus Brown bricks ensure a timeless warmth to the building’s exterior that will stand the test of time. 

While affordable housing is a growing necessity for the capital city, prosperous neighbourhoods have a combination of buildings with mixed uses to help inter-community living. For this reason, 300 Harrow Road has a deliberate blend of residential and commercial uses to help the public realm thrive in the long term. This meant developing play facilities, a new public plaza, along with an enterprise space above the community hall and a café with external space.

The development of 300 Harrow Road also implemented the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). MMC is a more efficient, faster, and cheaper way to build than traditional methods due to the benefits of offsite construction. With this project all vertical structures, balconies, staircases, internal services and service cupboards were constructed with MMC. A temporary nursery building was also constructed off-site to house the incumbent provider during the period of the works ensuring no places were lost to local families.

For a community to be at the heart of this development, input from residents was crucial to ensure that local needs were being met in an appropriate fashion. Public exhibitions and drop-in sessions meant that residents could directly feed in their ideas for the scheme. This additional consultation had a tangible effect specifically with the landscaping design, with spaces and features for older residents introduced. Other design elements discussed through workshops with residents’ groups included agreement on the materiality of the scheme and balcony design to mitigate overlooking.