Tall & Urban News

Alison Brooks Architects has been handed permission for a 35-story tower and a 14-story block next to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London. The hexagonal high-rises were approved by the London Legacy Development Corporation’s planning committee on 24 May, 2022, despite exceeding the prevailing building height for the area.

The buildings will provide 350 homes above colonnaded ground floors with community and retail space. The design features blue glazed tiles and brick and horizontal ledges across different heights and elevations.

The scheme will fill a 0.76-hectare site at International Quarter London – an office-led district being developed by Lendlease between the Olympic Park and Stratford. The site had outline planning permission for office space, but later became earmarked for homes. The buildings will stand at 129 meters and 64 meters, despite the local plan setting out a 30-meter prevailing building height for Central Stratford and the southern edge of the park. However, planning officers said the scheme was considered compliant, due to its "exceptional design quality."

A planning report also noted the "significant difference" between the two blocks but said "officers consider that the composition has the potential to work well in townscape terms and in longer views." The 14-story block will contain 78 homes, all of which will be for social rent, while the neighboring tower will provide 272 homes for private rent or sale. The scheme will therefore be 28 percent affordable, less than the 35 percent target set by the Mayor of London.

For more on this story, go to Architects' Journal.