Frampton Park Baptist Church & Housing

An example for enabling a new church building and community facilities through innovative housing solutions.

About this project

The Frampton Park scheme creates three new residential blocks (47 apartments), enabling a new church building, café and community facilities on the Frampton Park Estate in Hackney.

Ranging from 3-8 stories in height, the new buildings vary the horizontality the post-war estate, while drawing on the context of the existing buildings in materials, details and the treatment of entrances and windows to create a rich architectural language. A courtyard garden formed by the new housing is open to the street and shared with the public; a ‘village green’ in front of the church provides for community gatherings and events, and a corner space is enlarged and re-landscaped to accommodate the church’s community gardening project.

The new church building replaces a 1950s church in poor condition and accommodates the thriving congregation’s many activities and services, previously scattered across the estate, under one roof.

“Transparency was absolutely central to the design." explains project architect Claire Warnock. "The church also didn’t want an imposing, hierarchical building in the manner of a traditional church; it had to be open and welcoming to all and with a strong emphasis on community engagement.” “The church was very keen to have a more usable building than before with a wide range of different functions. Although the new building has a smaller floor area than its predecessor, it offers far greater multi-functionality and efficiency.”

The scheme won a 2016 Housing Design Award as one of only 5 completed schemes.

Use of Timber

Built from glulam and crosslaminated timber, the building offers multifunctional use and allowed for faster construction and robust internal finishes.