Women’s Pioneer Housing champions independent women achieving their potential and provides housing and services to help make a positive impact on their lives.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has approved the redevelopment, which will create 60 affordable homes for women and an 18-storey co-living tower block. Designs for the triangular 0.22ha plot bordered by Wood Lane (A219) and a railway line, include a communal space at ground floor level, landscaping and a linked tower for co-living units, mainly targeted at young professionals with studios of around 24m².

Skelly & Couch is delivering full M&E Design Duties to provide energy-efficient new building services for the project. The design incorporates low energy demand by introducing passive measures such as U-values and air leakage lower than Part L; window glazing sizes and performance leading to excellent daylighting and passive solar heating in winter, and natural ventilation where possible; plus external solar shading and low g-values for summer conditions.

Other highly effective environmental measures include demand-driven ventilation and heating that incorporates heat recovery throughout, as well as energy-efficient lighting with more than 100 lumen/watt output. Electric systems will be used for domestic hot water, Air Source Heat Pumps technology introduced for heating and cooling, even within the central ventilation air handling units, and heat recovery will temper the ventilation fresh air. As a result, a connection to the gas mains can be avoided, with no carbon dioxide emissions produced on site, and the regulated CO2 could present savings close to 60%.

The redevelopment is aiming for a targeted ‘Very Good’ BREEAM rating for both the co-living and office spaces.