The Albany Riverside residential scheme, a joint venture between Bluescape Ltd. and Topland Group PLC, lies on the northern bank of the River Thames, close to the greenery and character of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the London Borough of Hounslow. The project consists of an ensemble of buildings with setbacks and inlets allowing for complementary landscaping elements. It will provide 193 new market sale homes, an abundance of amenity spaces and a commercial unit.

Skelly & Couch is involved in the energy modelling and reduction of carbon emissions for the development, as well as producing an overheating strategy while meeting the goal of minimising the plant rooms’ and risers’ space required. Modular prefabrication of the plant room within the residential accommodation has been recommended to the client. In order to inform the design team on the above, a detailed design has been developed and a BIM model produced.

Albany Riverside currently consists of two attached buildings in the form of Max Factor House, an underutilised office building, and Waterman’s Arts Centre, a multi-use facility containing a theatre, cinema, cafés and art galleries. The planning application for this project was submitted jointly with a related project called Half Acre. This consists of the redevelopment of the former Police Station in the centre of Brentford and will include a new Arts Centre and communal garden podium spaces, together with an affordable housing component.

Albany Riverside and Half Acre are sites of Potential Strategic Importance (PSI) and therefore went successfully through a two-staged planning approval process that involved the Greater London Authority and the London Borough of Hounslow.

In fact, both developments, but Albany Riverside in particular, lie close to the protected views from World Heritage Site, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and therefore present a valuable opportunity to enhance environmental quality and townscape through the delivery of a high-calibre supply of new housing in a sought-after location. For this reason, and in order to enhance their Environmental Sustainability, the schemes have been designed and successfully assessed using the BREEAM and Home Quality Mark protocols.