ArchitectAt the very beginning there was a single storey, ex printing factory here. The owner decided he ought to do something with it. It’s a place I fell in love with very quickly – it’s opposite a park and it had two sides. The north side faces a beautiful park, and the south looks over London including the Shard. I sketched some early ideas for the site.
Initially, we designed a residential scheme, and I was tasked with finding somebody to take on the site. Fortuitously David Campbell, at Alumno, bought the site, took a chance on our young practice, and let us design a student scheme. They must have liked it as they appointed us to commence a pre-application process with Southwark Planning.
It would be an understatement to say I enjoyed working with David Campbell. David is a hugely creative developer, with a great love and knowledge of art and architecture. The building form was inspired by Ben Nicholson, an artist for whom we share a great appreciation. It’s wonderful to have a client that appreciates all the elements and how they tie-in.
Southwark is a fantastic place – it’s urban, but it’s green. However, the buildings on either side had no edge, and I think Southwark has an edge inherently. It’s a vibrant place, so we put forward something bold, honest, and dynamic which was well received by the planners. We had a good working relationship with the planning officers and were able to exceed Southwark’s density figures as the design was so good. A bigger building, with greater density, is good for sustainability and makes better use of urban land. It meant we could build a distinctive building with seven storeys as opposed to the five of our neighbours.
When the concept was sufficiently developed, we held a public exhibition near the site. Lots of locals came and we had fruitful discussions with them about the area, the scheme and architecture. Many have lived here since birth and seen it change a lot. Their stories of Southwark over the decades were fascinating. It was clear how much they cared about the area and community. We paid attention to what they said and certain things, such as ensuring privacy whilst maintaining views out, were guided by that.
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When I looked around this part of Southwark the only common thread, I could find was difference. So, this building continues that theme of beingquite individual. In many ways it’s a contemporary building, but it has a tri-partite hierarchy which is a more traditional thing. The lower, lighter-hued element is reminiscent of a Victorian building, where you would have a stucco white section at the bottom, and it is raised to gift the occupant the upper hand over passing pedestrians. There are other subtle nods to the past
in the raised plinth or the exposed concrete colonnade on the fifth floor. Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) is, in theory, our idealised version of a building. I’m so pleased with how the reality has turned out that I think it looks better than the CGI.
With student housing you must work to a budget, and it’s best to really embrace that. The greatest architecture in my opinion – like the 1950s Case Study Houses or the Modern Movement of the 1930s – came from hard times and tight budgets. It makes architects work hard; to do a lot with a little.
The materials are honest, robust fabrics that should last in an urban environment. We paid homage to some of our favourite modernist architects, like Le Corbusier, with exposed concrete slabs, but to get them thermally broken was the challenging and innovative aspect of the scheme. It gives an incredible horizontal emphasis with beautiful tones of grey brick in between. The bricks are handmade, they don’t have that plasticky smooth texture, they’ve got some real interest in them. The brick is lighter at the top floors and holds a darker tone across the middle storeys. The façade possesses a subtle concertina that creates a lovely shadow on the building.
There are little details which aren’t necessarily apparent but subliminally they make a big difference. For instance, you won’t see a gutter on the outside of the façade, as the water is directed centrally and down.
The textural variety is continued inside with concrete juxtaposed with shiny tiles and plants. Those textures, alongside the photographic artwork, and the use of colour mean that a simple corner of a common room can look as if it has been painstakingly and fabulously choreographed. Ron Plunz, the project manager, is utterly dedicated and talented. Ron’s a superstar. He studied architecture, so he’s passionate about it, and he cares immensely about these projects. There are so many great details, from the furniture to the bespoke artwork, and he brought everything together, within a budget and on time.
In the UK there is often not enough consideration given to pavements. There is a stronger focus on the importance of paving across mainland
Europe. The site had a skinny pavement, broken by trees, that ran along the front. We created a new, widened piece of public realm in front that retained those trees.
That meant that the mature trees adjacent to the building had to be saved. The challenge for the contractors being to demolish the old structure and build a new one with the trees so close. To avoid the tree roots we pushed the basement back, southwards, and that brought a section out from under the building. That led to the beautiful glass skylight allowing natural light to spill into where the students sit. Season to season, day to day, that light will change and, on a rainy day, the water can weave soothing patterns.
It cannot be overstated what a good job HG Construction did. We really appreciated the relationship we had with them. Andrew Carrington is a star, a one-off. Alongside the site manager, Owen, they took a tough job and excelled. It wouldn’t be what it is without them.
There are lots of different roof planes, and every single one is sedum and has solar on it. The building is extremely well insulated, utilising clever heating systems. So, it’s sustainable in terms of environmental outputs, best use of urban land, and it’s a BREEAM excellent-rated building. Ultimately, it’s a lovely place to be, with the welfare and well-being of the students at the centre.
The rooms are generous sizes, with incredible, full-height windows overlooking either a beautiful park, a garden, or one of the pocket courtyards; even the window-blind is recessed to leave the view unspoilt. The external greenery is drawn in to a ventilated, light, and beautiful space. It feels like it’s part of the park.
People can be mean with corridors; long, narrow spaces which allow people to pass and nothing more. We took the opportunity to make something much wider, almost undeserving of the name corridor, a central space
where people can stop and chat. This was achieved without compromising on the size of the rooms.
We wanted to create a safe place, but not a fortress. It had to feel safe but not like some sort of prison. We worked with the police to design the scheme to be as secure as possible. The front door, for example, has great visibility with no hiding places. Whilst they’ve got the park as this fabulous public space, there are also the courtyard gardens at the back; which are a completely secure, calm space for the students.
This building has plenty of future potential as regards a change of use. We designed it with a frame, and a setting out, that is incredibly flexible inside. You
can turn every single room into a fully accessible unit at the move of one plasterboard partition. It can be adapted so that every single room is for full wheel-chair use. The building is designed so that every other bay has a concrete column which means that you can turn it into a fabulous hotel, a brilliant residential scheme, an office, or commercial space. It could be almost anything!
That’s an extremely important point because there are sometimes accusations thrown at student accommodation that it will lie there and that’s all it can be. So, we’ve designed a versatile platform that, if the needs change or shift for the community for whatever reason, it can quite easily be adapted in years to come. It’s a great location, overlooking a park, with a myriad of potential uses at which it would shine. The only thing we know about the future
is that it will change.
Student accommodation can become a miniature city, which doesn’t support the local community. I think it’s hugely important for students to go out and discover the area and the people. This building is part of the community, it’s not an island. There are one hundred and forty-three students that would like to buy food, have a drink, and use the local facilities. It should be a huge
boost to the local community
There’s quite an age range in this place, with people having their first experience living outside the family home to postgraduates in their forties. So, it’s important to have a mature space, one that feels adult, in which people can make friends and be comfortable. I think we’ve achieved that, and I hope students who live here will make great memories.
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Accommodation ManagerI’m originally from Chester, very near the Welsh border. My father used to work for Butlins in Wales. I got a job working for Butlins in Bognor Regis in 1997, came down for one season and then never went back. I spent sixteen years working for them, working my way up the chain until I was running the whole accommodation there. Then about ten years ago I decided to change my direction slightly and move into managing student accommodation.
This place has one hundred and forty-three residents which is the smallest property that I’ve managed before. So, it’s myself full time and a maintenance operative that works 3 days a week. That means I do the booking process from start to finish, so I’ve really got to know a lot of the residents and feel more connected to them.
The benefits of smaller accommodation I would say, are a bit more of a per- sonal touch, and a community feel. I’ve got some students that come down quite often for a chat. In the beginning they’re just finding their way and a bit nervous. They have questions about where to go and what to do about this and that. Due to the booking process, I also have a lot of communication with the parents too.
Previously, I found in London that many students would be international be- cause the cost out-priced UK students. Here, the accommodation was set at a price within the student loan bracket. We booked up very quickly, I think I could have filled this place many times over.
The split is probably about 40% from UK and the rest are truly international. We have students from across Europe, the Americas, and South and East Asia. It’s interesting for the students to make friends from all over. It’s very London to be such an international city.
Most of the students study at King’s or University of the Arts due to their proximity. King’s is only a shortish walk away. There are some students from Westminster and Greenwich. There’s a real mix as only about 10% are first years, then other undergraduate years, and postgraduates too.
That’s a bit unusual, as you normally have one or the other. So, the age range goes up to people in their thirties and older, which makes for a good mix in all sorts of ways.
It’s a previously quite industrial area with a lot of new and regenerated buildings. This building is beautifully designed. There’s a nice balance between the communal areas and the rooms. The shared kitchens mean there are communities within the building too.
This area is evolving fast, with various facilities right on the doorstep. We are building a community and the amenities are following. There’s already a small supermarket opened beside us. It’s a mixed community as well, there’s a relatively low-level of students compared with other residents.
As far as transport is concerned there’s the Bermondsey Jubilee Line, which is a ten-minute walk away, though mainly the students seem to use the buses for local journeys. Some students have bikes and we’ve got a lockable bike shed at the back.
Alumno have provided Brompton bikes for hire, that anyone in the community can use, that are in lockers outside the front.
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I found out about Alscot online. I googled accommodations and this one came up. It almost seemed too good to be true, so I requested to book a room here, hoping it would be as good as it seemed. I also liked the ‘early bird’ prices. With ‘early bird’ if you booked a room early it was cheaper, actually far cheaper than other accommodations that had already opened up, because this is the first year that the accommodation is open.
The location is great for my uni placement at Kings college hospital and there’s excellent connections with public transport, to go anywhere in London or beyond. I also really like that it has an en-suite bathroom, but that we
shared a kitchen so there were opportunities to meet other students. I am in an eleven room flat. I was thinking about going into a smaller one but then I thought the bigger, the more possibilities that there are people that I will eventually make friends with.
‘I also really like that it has an en-suite bathroom, but that we shared a kitchen so there were opportunities to meet other students’.
I’m really happy here so far, especially with my flatmates, we cook dinner every night together and every weekend we make fun plans. I’m even going to go to some of their home towns over the holidays. So, I’m really grateful they are nice people and we’re all becoming friends.
Some of them are from different parts of the UK, like from Edinburgh to Bristol and the others are international, so it’s a good balance. We’ve got someone from Lebanon, someone else from Spain like me, two people from Portugal, someone from the USA, someone from northern China and someone from Hong Kong, so it’s a big mix. Everyone is mixing and learning from each other. That’s really really important.
I particularly like the common room here. It’s somewhere me and many others really like to use, especially with the roof windows and all the plants and furniture and artwork, I feel like it’s very homely. Whenever I get to work from
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Home, instead of on campus, I really like to sit in the common room. We had our first social events here. Martin the accommodation manager got pizza and we all just kind of met each other. That’s how I met people from other flats as well, who I still talk to and make plans with. So the common room does actually act as somewhere that people from the different flats meet, so it’s not just about your own one.
That’s how common rooms are meant to work. I think in this day and age there are so many people glued to their phones or maybe in their rooms, or people are shy, people really need to like the common room in order to try and spend time in it. Everything about the common room does work really well actually.
When we make friends, we then sometimes go and hang out in our kitchens, so we will just cook together and we go to someone’s flat or they come to our flat. That way flats also mix, just by cooking in other flats. Cooking is such an important thing, I mean I love food and cooking and things. Just the idea that you’re going to taste all these things from everybody’s culture and learn how to make it.
My Edinburgh flatmate has a mug where it says “I love Scotland” on it and sometimes she makes me a strong English Breakfast tea with a bit of milk. So that’s not exactly cooking, but it’s proper British style tea, that was new for
me, but something I’ve got quite into. Sometimes these little things make you feel you’re soaking up all the cultures.
I’m very happy with my room. I saw it and when I first moved into the accommodation I was really scared that it was going to be a scam, because it seemed too good to be true, especially for the price.
It’s not cheap compared with Loughborough, but, especially with all the bills included I feel like it is a good price for being in the heart of London, in such a great area, especially compared with the alternatives. So when I moved in I was really surprised by how good the quality of everything was. Everything was new because it’s a new building. The views from my window are so nice as well, because I look directly onto the garden and the heating and ventilation and bathroom and everything is very good. I was very pleasantly surprised. I think most of us were. because I have spoken to quite a lot of people about it and they were really happy even about things like the showers
and that the rooms temperatures and sound insulation are good. There’s a shared garden that’s still safe because it’s only the students that can access it. So we can kind of feel safe but also be outdoors. I mean it’s a safe area anyway, obviously there’s the park right across. So we can have a kind of private garden and a park right out front, which is amazing really.
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Engineering StudentI decided to come to London due to the course, the experience, and diversity of culture over here. I’m originally from Kerala and did my undergraduate degree back in India. I’m doing an MSc in Engineering at King’s College, which has a great reputation.
Compared to other places this accommodation had a good price and location. It has lived up to expectations. This building is brand new and very state of the art. It looks great and, interestingly for me, seems to function very well from an engineering perspective. It’s a green building, very environmentally sound.
Including me there’s eleven in our flat. I chose it to socialise and be with other people. There’s a communal kitchen with a living room area. We each have ensuite rooms. We all usually meet in the kitchen or head down to the common room.
The common room is very popular, especially at night. People are there talking, having a coffee or whatever, playing pool or watching movies. They made a big effort to get the natural light coming through which is great in the daytime. The artwork helps create a connection with the surrounding area.
If friends visit, we can study together or hang out in the common areas. I usually study in my room, though many people do study in the common room, especially if they don’t have a class in the morning or afternoon. It’s a quiet
and peaceful atmosphere then.
I’m enjoying the experience of being in London; even more than I expected. It’s really friendly. This location has a lot going on, but it’s also a great base for seeing the rest of London. My friends and I have been out and about a lot – doing site visits, going to museums and tourist areas. We’re soaking it all up, the London experience.
After graduation I’d like to continue working in the UK as I’m enjoying here so much. I’ve even been applying for a few potential jobs and, so far, it’s going well.
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