Walcot Square mews

: Structural Engineers - Morph Structures; M&E Engineers - Milieu Consult; Planning Consultants - Savills; PM & QS- Jackson Coles; Landscape - Indigo Landscape Architects Ltd.; Arboriculture - Barrell Tree Consultancy

This terrace of five ingeniously planned two-storey + basement split-level houses and a detached ‘garden house’ on a brownfield site of post-war garages and an adjacent land-locked walled garden in Kennington, London was commissioned by The Walcot Foundation, which exists for the relief of poverty through charitable donations.

Sandwiched between a grand terrace of Georgian houses to the west and Victorian terraces to the east, the site presented significant challenges for redevelopment including its historic Conservation Area context, extensive root protection zones of existing trees, ground contamination and overlooking. The brief was to maximise the rental potential of the site and to address long term ownership requirements through detailed design and appropriate specification. This included using durable, hard-wearing materials to reduce ongoing maintenance. The design of the brick-clad mews terrace takes its inspiration from the robust detailing and handsome proportions of the adjacent Listed 19th Century terraces. A modest two-storey parapeted elevation addressing the Mews sits in a comfortable hierarchy of scale with them and the taller 18th century terrace. Behind this elevation a split-level section allows an additional third storey of accommodation at lower ground floor level, opening onto west-facing sunken courtyard gardens. The garden house, located amongst mature trees and planting, terminates the mews. Green roofs minimise the visual impact. Bronze-finish perforated panels with a pattern generated from photography of sunlight through foliage corresponds with the surrounding tree canopies. Micro-piles minimise excavation and the house effectively floats above ground, allowing rainwater to percolate under the ventilated void.