100% AFFORDABLE HOUSING BUILT FOR THE COMMUNITY
Part of the wider South Kilburn regeneration programme, Unity Place delivers a development of 235 new homes – every single one for social rent.
Aiming to address economic, physical and social issues in the neighbourhood, this scheme improves the environment and integrates the site within the estate’s wider regeneration projects.
Alongside 100% affordable homes for local residents, the scheme incorporates an estate-wide energy centre, a publicly accessible play space and a community hub.
Unity Place has transformed a site that suffered from a lack of social cohesion, crime, and anti-social behaviour into a safe, inviting and coherent urban community that reinstates much of the character lost in this area in the post-war years.
The simple, elegant an understated scheme design provides homes for existing residents of South Kilburn, hugely improving their living conditions.
Noreen Twomey, Project Manager South Kilburn
LISTENING TO THE RESIDENTS
We’ve always believed that architecture is most effective when everyone’s voice is heard. That’s why we held co-design workshops with existing residents of the estate. These were structured to understand what future residents want from their new homes, new amenity spaces and new residential community. The outcome? Innovative ideas that shaped our design proposals to create a tailored approach to the delivery of culturally appropriate homes.
The floorplans, landscapes, playground equipment, privacy buffers and balconies were all influenced by the co-design consultation. And we prioritised residents’ health and wellbeing through excellent levels of daylight and ventilation throughout homes, stairs and communal corridors. Larger than average private and shared external spaces and a range of biodiverse habitats also provide a choice of outdoor environments.
COLLABORATIVE DESIGN AT ITS FINEST
While we developed the overarching vision for the regeneration of the estate and masterplan, we also worked with Alison Brooks Architects and Gort Scott to create a unified approach to deliver the individual buildings. The entire development is organised around the reinstatement of historic street patterns and draws on terrace, mansion block and villa typologies, typical of the local area, to create high-quality homes for South Kilburn residents and reinforce the strong sense of local community.
The buildings range in scale between four and eight storeys, and with frequent doors onto the street, a sense of urban domesticity has been re-established that was lacking in the previous buildings. They sit harmoniously in its surroundings, with biodiverse planting within private courtyards, public gardens and the public play space providing a rich variety of habitats.
SOUTH KILBURN REGENERATION PROGRAMME
Our vision for Kilburn in 2026 is for a friendly and inclusive neighbourhood, with a fresh multicultural style, buzzing and vibrant with activities for all and which provides a comfortable, green and peaceful living environment.
The regeneration of South Kilburn is a fifteen-year programme not only for the redevelopment of buildings but also an enhancement of the landscape, urban realm and streets. The masterplan will replace a large area of poor 1960s housing stock and its associated adverse environmental, social and economic conditions with high-quality council and market dwellings in an environment that integrates South Kilburn with its more prosperous surroundings.