Tagged in Abbey House
A Notting Hill Housing (NHH) development in Bermondsey has been shortlisted for a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Regional Award, which are given to buildings that are recognised as an importance piece of architecture in their locality.
Queens Court in Abbey Street (aka Abbey House) is named after two local battalions made up mostly of men from Bermondsey who fought in both World Wars. The site previously housed a drill hall for soldiers and officers of the 22nd Battalion, the London Regiment (Queen’s). It also included a Grade-II listed war memorial inscribed with the names of more than 800 men from the battalion who served in World War One and featuring a plaque commemorating those from the 6th Bermondsey Battalion, The Queen’s Royal Regiment, who gave their lives in World War Two.
NHH’s work included the careful removal and reinstatement of the war memorial, which is now integrated into the building itself, and is framed with double height stone to make it more prominent. All residents have also been given a booklet on the history of the memorial and will be invited to the Remembrance Sunday event that takes place on site each year.
“When we took on the development, we were keen to honour the history of the site,” explains NHH project manager Alex Neate, “and to show our respect to the regiment and the wider local community.
“RIBA’s awards champion and celebrate architecture that displays a commitment to designing and developing buildings and spaces for the improvement and enhancement of people’s lives. This sentiment is shared by NHH, so we’re really pleased that the work we've done with architects Child Graddon Lewis at Queens Court has been recognised by RIBA.”
Queens Court (Abbey House) is a mixed-tenure development of 100% affordable housing, which includes homes for rent by social housing residents as well as shared ownership properties. Providing more new homes for Londoners is a key strand of NHH’s strategy, which sets out to produce a range of high-quality housing types to support mixed communities.
Homepage photo credit: Richard Chivers and Child Graddon Lewis