London & South East

Stratford Halo

Genesis Housing Association provides quality homes and services in a bid to build better futures for their customers.

Genesis was formed in 2011 and now own or manage around 33,000 homes across London and the east of England. Their portfolio includes a range of properties, from temporary housing to rented homes, homes for sale, and supported housing.

One of Genesis Housing Association’s most highly acclaimed projects is the regeneration of Stratford Halo; one of the highest residential towers in London. The now completed development is located on 150 High Street in Stratford and provided 704 new homes for residents.

The scheme included five new residential blocks – one of which spanned a whopping 132 metres – commercial space, community facilities, landscaped public areas, communal and private amenity space, as well as a new landscaped riverside walkway. The impressive project was awarded the title of Development of the Year at 2013’s UK Housing Awards.

The redevelopment included seven towers blocks which span between seven and 43 storeys; all of the sites buildings surround private and communal courtyards. The new build scheme was carried out under a design-and-build contract accompanied by Ardmore, KDS Associates, Stock Woolstencroft, URS Corporation, WPS Group and Ian White Associates.

As an experienced contractor specialising in high-rise construction Ardmore negotiated the project in its early stages and following extensive value engineering, was able to submit a lump-sum, fixed-price tender. With the contract sum agreed Ardmore commenced piling within seven weeks.

The development had sustainability at the fore incorporating a CHP plant, biomass boilers, rainwater harvesting and green and brown roofs, as well as including water-saving sanitary ware. The flats were handed over on a floor by floor basis allowing occupations 18 months earlier.

The interiors of Stratford Halo’s apartments meet a high-end interior specification. The units contain floor to ceiling windows which deliver plenty of natural light to the large living and bedroom areas. The kitchens boast integrated Bosch and Indesit appliances, as well as elegant stylish quartz crystal work surfaces. The bathrooms are fully tiled with wall tiles sourced from the Laura Ashley Malvern collection; the bathroom spaces also are fitted with Grohe bath, showers and basins.

All of the developments apartments also come with hot water supplied by the Olympic District Heating System. This system ensures costs are kept below the average for homes with more traditional heating systems.

The Stratford Halo development has some of London’s best public transport links, so residents can enjoy a speedy commute into Central London, the City and Canary Wharf. The Halo properties are served by the Jubilee and Central lines, the Docklands Light Railway and overland rail services, including the High Speed domestic rail link that will allow commuters to travel into Central London in just seven minutes. In the future, Stratford will have a station on the Crossrail line which will provide Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels.

Nearby the properties is Westfield Stratford City, Europe’s largest urban shopping centre, with 1.9m square feet of retail space and more than 300 shops and restaurants. The shopping opportunities are almost endless from high street names such as Marks and Spencer and John Lewis to luxury brand outlets like Hugo Boss and Kurt Geiger.

Genesis Housing Association has a strong track record in regenerating urban areas that are run-down and neglected and have worked with various communities to address issues of health, education, opportunities for young people, employment and safety.

Price Kitchens provided the kitchens for the Stratford Halo project. They were invited to tender for the first phase of the scheme and negotiated works for the rest of the development. The firm undertook the design process alongside the scheme’s design managers and the client.

After they had gained final approval on the drawings the team set about manufacturing the products. They were then delivered to site in accordance with the contractor’s works program.

We caught up with the Managing Director of Price Kitchens, Chris Price, to find out how pleased they were to be involved in the scheme:

“We manufacture, design and supply first class kitchens and were very proud to be involved in such a landmark project. It is the biggest individual project we have ever worked on and so we are very pleased.”

 

 

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