ORSMAN WHITMORE BUILDING The building occupies the site of a former petrol station, at the corner of Whitmore and Orsman Roads, Hackney. Close to Regents Canal, it is an area of brick warehouses, artist studios and local authority housing. The project is a self-funded, owner/occupier mixed-use building, housing ground and first floor studios and offices, with six two bedroom apartments on the three floors above providing living space for artists, architects and designers. This mixed-use proposal was supported by the planners, as the uses were compatible with area policy (B1 and residential). Trevor Horne found and negotiated the purchase of the site after setting up an SPV company, Orsman Whitmore Limited. The practice worked with three friends, all of whom were looking either for spaces to live in or work. The brick façade– a straightforward grid of piers and spandrels– allows for variability, such as eroding (terraces); infilling (windows or brick panels); leaving open (recessed balconies), and cutting away (corner cantilever). The external facades feature handmade grey Nevado clay facing brick, metal handrails and bespoke aluminum full -height windows with recessed aluminum ventilation panels. Deep pier reveals and brick soffits express the solidity and permanence of the material. Internally we contrasted exposed concrete finishes (all ceilings and core walls) with natural materials including white oak engineered flooring for the apartments, basalt stone floors for the communal areas and full height flush doors. The apartments are generous in size with 3m ceiling heights. The Orsman Road massing of the building lines through with its neighbour, stepping up to mark the junction and cantilevering for the corner oversail (a cut out for traffic visibility, and a covered entrance to the studios). On Whitmore Road the massing steps down to meet the neighbouring three-storey building. The structure is in-situ concrete Cobiax system to make lightweight slabs spanning 8.5 metres - a requirement for the columnless studio space on the ground floor. There are no internal columns, allowing for greater flexibility in layout of the studios and apartments. The building is wheelchair accessible and the apartments are constructed to meet Life Time Homes requirements. We achieved Code for Sustainable Homes level 3 and a BREEAM ‘Very good’ rating. The project encountered a number of planning constraints, namely: • Removal of three large petrol tanks, plus environmental mitigation to deal with site contamination • Rights of Light - we are surrounded on two sides by existing buildings • Negotiations with Hackney Council for corner oversail on a public pathway The contract used was JCT Standard Contract. We started on site in September 2011 with completion of the residential by December 2012. There was a five week overrun on construction, primarily due to clearing of site and additional environmental mitigation requirements. The fit-out of the ground and first floor was a separate JCT contract running from January 2013 to April 2013. Overall, from acquiring the site, organizing the SPV, organizing finance, gaining planning permission, demolition and removal of petrol tanks (and environmental mitigation), construction, to completion was a three-year process.