DMA

It was great to see our recently completed development at Parsons North featured in the Architects’ Journal in January. One of the things that we are proud of is that, as well as the building being a really positive addition to Edgware Road, the project also created added social value for its residents through work experience and pro bono services, and it was great to see that people are interested in this aspect of the scheme. You can read the full article below and in the Architects’ Journal:

David Miller Architects Creates 60 Homes for Westminster City Council
19^th JANUARY 2023, BY FRAN WILLIAMS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM CROCKER

A new mixed-use development by David Miller Architects (DMA) for Westminster City Council provides 60 new homes and restores a neighbourhood of streets and gardens on a corner of Edgware Road

The main challenge on this scheme was to design housing that would sit within its context: a rapidly evolving streetscape consisting of neighbouring schemes still in development, the only standing building being Parsons House, a 20-storey residential tower at the south-east corner of the site.

Repairing the street edges around the site to re-establish the urban block was the starting point. A five-storey, U-shaped building wraps around a courtyard garden and restores the street façades.

Composed of traditional masonry with reconstituted stone details, including a modern take on the rusticated ground floor, the façades echo the area’s traditional terraces.

The regularity of windows and balcony openings on the more formal Edgware Road façade gradually transforms as you move away from the main street, opening out into a ‘garden square’ with a more relaxed feel and lightweight, bolt-on balconies. The bronze-coloured metalwork of the windows and balconies is carried up to an attic storey, set back from the façade to break down the scale of the block.

A variety of tenure types and different-sized flats and maisonettes provide 19 affordable homes of two and three bedrooms as well as 41 private sale homes ranging from one to three bedrooms. The larger, affordable duplexes have their own front doors onto Edgware Road where changes in levels and landscaping are used to define the threshold between public and private.

The scheme has been designed around keeping the existing mature trees on the site and landscaped to stitch into what was already there, including improvements to the area around the existing residential tower.

Parsons North is the first completed construction project around Edgware Road and Church Street, slotting into and essentially unlocking the next phases of Westminster City Council’s regeneration plan for the area.

Architect’s view

The site had been a bit of an eyesore. A large portion of it was covered by a podium over a semi-underground car park, which gave nothing back to the street. However, the location on Edgware Road meant that it was a fantastic opportunity to do something different and really create a sense of place, using scale, details and landscaping to reconnect with the street and the neighbourhood.

Each of the elevations are different to each other, so that they sit well and complete their respective streets, also making sense of the existing Parsons House tower, which seems to sit more comfortably now. I particularly like the way the affordable duplexes front onto Edgware Road, where they’ve made a real difference to the way the street feels. We worked hard to keep the existing mature trees along this elevation, which add to the atmosphere and to the feel of the buildings always having been there.
Samantha Malitskie, project architect, David Miller Architects

Client’s view

Parsons North is a great success. It has created 60 high-quality new homes, 19 of which are affordable and have been let to local residents; it has produced beautiful and useable landscaped spaces that transform the whole area; it has improved the existing Parsons House with a new entrance, new resident room, improvements to the street and accessibility, and new retail space on Edgware Road. The new development combines the existing with the new to make a really great neighbourhood.
Simon Tong, development delivery manager, Westminster City Council

The project outcomes go beyond the bricks and mortar of the scheme, creating added social value for our residents. DMA provided five week-long work experience placements to students from local schools and youth groups. And, having also created an apprenticeship role in the practice in partnership with City of Westminster College, which became a full time permanent role, they supported us in encouraging other companies to take on apprentices. By providing 200 hours of pro bono service, they also helped to improve community facilities including space for youth groups and affordable office space on Church Street.
Gurverinder Garcha, social value manager, Westminster City Council

Project data

Start on site August 2019
Completion March 2022
Gross internal floor area 7,683m²
Form of contract Design and Build, two-stage tender
Construction cost £27 million
Architect David Miller Architects
Client Westminster City Council
Structural engineer Robert Bird Group
M&E consultant CBG Consulting
Planning consultant JLL
Interior designer Number 12
Landscape consultant Lloyd Bore
Acoustic consultant CDC Acoustics
Principal designer David Miller Architects
Approved building inspector Westminster Council
Main contractor Osborne
CAD software used Revit

Environmental performance data

On-site energy generation 8%
Airtightness at 50Pa 2.76 m³/h.m²
Heating and hot water load 49.49 kWh/m²/yr
Overall area-weighted U-value 0.49 W/m²K
Annual CO₂ emissions 12.83 kgCO₂eq/m²