William Cuffay House

Handling complex approvals on an affordable homes block

Located within the London Borough of Southwark, William Cuffay House was developed by Southwark Council to meet its policy and local plan commitments with regards to affordable and accessible housing. It was built under the LABC Partner Authority Scheme. The site was particularly confined and located alongside a Network Rail viaduct.

Walsh were primarily employed to manage the Network Rail (NWR) approvals process and we were able to leverage our working relationship with the Wessex NWR Team on previous projects. Gaining the NWR approval was the primary risk on the project and we smoothly steered the team through the process of extensive consultations producing deliverables schedules, obtaining the necessary surveys and the “Form 1 – Approval in Principle”.

There were tricky boundary conditions that we handled to fit the building on the site. We proposed details which simplified the boundary details and avoided the need for complex Party Wall Act negotiations.

The drainage design includes an attenuation tank that was located in the sub-basement of the building.

The structure is concrete framed with brick cladding and circular columns are included as a feature on the balconies. Utilising our lean design approach, we were able to simplify the basement plant room and optimise the structure by reducing slab thickness, minimising rebar and simplifying the balcony designs. This provided savings both in terms of cost and embodied carbon.