The Brickyard

About this project

The Brickyard is a seminal cross-laminated timber building in East Ham providing 98 homes over retail and leisure space. It will be one of London’s tallest hybrid CLT buildings when construction completes in Spring 2020.

A collaboration between Red Door Ventures and Helical Retail, the scheme is an example of good quality private rental sector housing. It enhances the East Ham civic quarter, in turn supporting our clients’ aspiration of being exemplary landlords. With its landscaped courtyard, gym, and events space, this elegant and energy efficient mixed-use development acts as a hub for residents of nearby RDV schemes to enjoy.

The building provides variety through scale with heights ranging between two and eleven storeys. The Brickyard’s rhythm and materiality echoes the surrounding neighbourhood, referencing a lively mixture of traditional brick architecture.

Use of Timber

Lightweight cross-laminated timber forms the structure of the tallest building, allowing nine residential storeys to stack above long-span retailers. This enables TK Maxx and The Gym to have open, flexible space without compromising the number of homes. This pivotal use of timber technology will significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the building in terms of material production and on-site time, and energy consumption.

Space and scale

The 98 homes are a mix of one and two-bedroom apartments, designed to create a sense of spaciousness, with open plan living and tall ceilings, and full height windows to optimise light and views.

Central landscaping provides pleasure, safety, defensible space and robustness, whist still feeling open, relaxed and comfortable. A pavilion opens up to host large outdoor gatherings, and planters allow residents to grow their own vegetables.

Affordable, family sized housing is provided by Red Door Ventures on linked sites at Wordsworth Avenue and Nelson Street. dRMM has been appointed to the Red Door Ventures framework of architects and is working on a number of sites at a variety of scales.

With its CLT structure, The Brickyard demonstrates a natural and healthy approach to building good quality private rental sector housing. The result is a contemporary and elegant landmark for the civic quarter.

Further Information

Images: dRMM