London Chest Hospital

The redevelopment of the former London Chest Hospital site in Bethnal Green aims to transform the disused site into a successful community of 274 new homes; the masterplan focuses on both preserving and restoring the site’s historical elements. The masterplan focuses on both preserving and restoring the site’s historical elements. The refurbishment will include the Grade II listed main hospital building, the Sanitary Tower, and the South Wing, which are all currently on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. In addition, five new buildings ranging from five to nine storeys will be constructed, providing carefully designed new housing of which 50% will be affordable housing (by habitable room), with a significant proportion (70%) allocated for Social Rent. The Hospital’s historic grounds will be opened to the public for the first time in nearly a decade with 1,140 square metres of open space, including the creation of a new public square next to St James’ Avenue, and the restoration of the formal lawn in front of the main hospital building. The veteran Mulberry tree on site, which reputed to be the oldest tree in the East End, will remain in its original location, aligning with community and environmental priorities. The proposals have been developed to maximise the number of dual aspects apartments within the constraints of the working around the listed buildings with 62% of new build homes dual aspect. There is a focus on the design of high quality new affordable family homes to the south of the site. Blocks A & B address Bonner Square and the new public square. They contain 100% dual aspect family homes designed to overlook the child play spaces below. Central to the sustainability strategy is reinstating a long-term viable use to the Grade II listed Former Chest Hospital, Sanitary Tower and South Wing which will secure its ongoing conservation and maintenance, removing the building from the Heritage at Risk Register. As a result, C4,700m2 of the GIA is made up of retained buildings, resulting in a significant reduction on the material quantities for the sub and super structures. The upfront embodied carbon (modules A1-5) the development achieves a result of 441.6kg CO2/m2 which is lower than the GLA WLC Residential Benchmark of 850kg CO2/m2 and the aspirational benchmark of 500 kg CO2/m2.