Balfron Tower & Carradale House, Tower Hamlets

Client: Poplar HARCA

Role: Architecture, Project Management, Landscape, Environmental Services & Planning

Balfron Tower (1963-65) and Carradale House (1967-70), iconic Grade II listed modernist buildings designed by Erno Goldfinger, fall within PRP’s wider regeneration masterplan for the surrounding Brownfield Estate.

They form part of the Balfron Tower Conservation Area, protecting additional structures and landscape designed by Goldfinger, and our masterplan presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to fund the complete renovation of these important buildings.

In doing so, we must balance statutory conservation requirements with the pressing imperative to address the sustainable upgrade of our existing housing stock. We believe that this upgrade is crucial to assure the future of the buildings: they will not be desirable places to live in the future, if they continue to suffer from overheating in the summer and thermal loss in the winter.

Key interventions include:

Complete replacement of all existing windows (approximately 50% are inappropriate uPVC replacements) with new high performance examples closely matching original pattern.
Corresponding upgrade of thermal performance to avoid major temperature differential at cold bridges. Full height and full width glazing requires the use of innovative materials to provide insulation and vapour barrier within a limited depth.
Efficient gas fired boilers in place of oil for the replacement communal heating system.
All new wet services, allowing the incorporation of water conservation measures.
Two new refuse chutes to allow separation of waste and recycling.
Modern lift installation within existing shafts.

By these means we are seeking to create a landmark exemplar of sustainable upgrade, fit for 21st century living.