Projects - Priory Court Estate

Where: Walthamstow, E10

Who For: LB Waltham Forest / Sixty Bricks

What: 83 homes

Architect: On Architecture

This development will deliver 83 new homes across three buildings with at least 52% as affordable housing, with more than 20 homes for social rent.  The new homes offer a mix of one to three bedroom flats in blocks ranging from five to six storeys in height.  All homes feature private gardens or balconies.  This infill development includes a range of new facilities across the estate.  A brand new MUGA, built to Sports England standards – complete with pitch markings for football and basketball games – will be provided.  Feedback from community consultation influenced the design and layout of the facility and includes a spectator zone and amenity hut.  A new children’s play area, ‘Play Way’ route, improved landscaping, CCTV, and enhanced street lighting complete the package.

Working for the Council and for Sixty Bricks, CMA were involved at the outset of the scheme.  CMA then worked to bring the proposals forward, and as a result, the scheme was unanimously approved at LBWF planning committee in July 2023.  CMA have an ongoing role helping with finalising the s106 agreement and looking at post approval amendments. 

There were several key challenges which had to be overcome.  One aspect tackled at an early stage related to the design approach of the scheme.  Planning officers had been engaged but they were questioning the rational for the placing of the three blocks. CMA were instrumental in setting out that the approach should be ‘landscape driven‘, and that a landscape architect should be brought onto the team. CMA then worked with the team to ensure landscape strategy was presented first, to get those aspects agreed, before then moving onto the proposals for the blocks themselves. 

Another key challenge related to the potential loss of open space on the Estate.  Clearly the scheme, being infill in nature, resulted in the loss of some existing open areas.  CMA helped present a case based around the quality of the existing spaces, and that the loss was to be compensated for by the wider landscape improvements.