East Ham Old Fire Station

The most sustainable building is nearly always the one that is already built, so it was with pleasure and interest that we converted a Grade II-Listed former fire station in East Ham’s civic quarter into affordable apartments and ground floor commercial space. The building closed in the 1960s and was converted into Council offices; this had a detrimental impact on the historic fabric, with many original features stripped out and detracting elements such as dropped ceiling tiles added. Our aim throughout was to remove unoriginal additions and restore the historic character whilst maximising living and commercial space.

The area is characterised by greenery and a cluster of other similar styled red-brick civic buildings built at the turn of the 20th century. The commercial unit at the ground floor of the building connects to the vibrancy of the high street, reinforcing the sense of place.

Apartment layouts are designed around the position of the heritage windows to set these off to their best advantage. The building’s main staircase has been refurbished and an additional new staircase has been introduced to improve the efficiency of the layout. The new staircase takes reference from the historic fabric, with its black steel winding steps and coloured rubber flooring echoing the colours of the historic quarry tiles found elsewhere in the building.

An existing yard located at the back of the building has been redesigned to provide a delightful landscaped entrance for residents to enjoy. It also provides an attractive outlook for the east facing apartments.

A tower with a splendid cupola provides a key feature to mark the building’s corner location. Four tall arched bays at street level facing towards the high street are what is left of the doors through which fire engines used to enter.

Arranged over the building’s two and a half floors, our design involved the removal of detracting unoriginal elements and structures, with the aim of retaining and restoring the majority of the original fabric. Behind the façade we optimised the internal layout while keeping the building’s original structural walls. This improves access and maximises the number of units while creating layouts that meet contemporary design standards and aspirations.

At ground level we neatly refurbished the former fire engine room to accommodate a new flexible commercial unit. This space not only adds to the vitality of this busy high street, but also provides an exciting and characterful space for a new café or restaurant. The original arched entrance bays are infilled with bespoke full height doors that connect the commercial unit with the bustling high street. These satisfyingly substantial glass and timber doors are sympathetic to the building’s historic fabric allowing natural light to flood the interior and provide an impressive entrance into the space.

The essence of renovation is “to make new again”.  We upgraded the interior to meet contemporary standards whilst making the most of the existing space and available sunlight.

We successfully extended the life of this historic building through a series of modernisations that allow it to meet contemporary standards for energy efficiency, and commercial and residential amenity, such as back-of-house, waste management and cycle storage areas. We undertook extensive work to repair the leaking roof which was causing internal damage. The performance of the building fabric has been improved through additions such as secondary glazing and upgrading existing floor and wall build ups to create comfortable places to live.