Scheme Description

Thornton House provides 14
high quality new homes within an
existing estate in Balham, London.
FBM’s regenerative design
approach optimised the number
of homes whilst enhancing
the surrounding amenity for
existing and new residents - as
part of the redevelopment of
the site, a new Health and Wellbeing Garden was provided,
including a new under 5s play
space, exercise zone and food
growing opportunities, with
further improvements to lighting
and landscaping along the street
frontage and site boundary.
The new apartments are arranged
around an open central stair
core within a compact urban
villa, orientated to provide an
improved street frontage along
Thornton Road whilst reducing
window to window distances from
neighbours. Ranging in height
from two to five storeys, the
new building acts as a transition
between the seven storey existing
estate building to the north and
the two-storey Edwardian villas to
the south and west.
Passive environmental solutions
have been a key consideration,
with 60% of the dwellings being
double aspect, and 40% triple
aspect. Recessed balconies
not only increase privacy, but
act as a shading device for the
floor to ceiling glazed doors
and windows. The development
was designed to achieve a 72%
reduction in carbon dioxide
emissions through a combination
of air source heat pumps (ASHP),
a highly efficient envelope, PV
panels on the roof, and thermally
efficient double-glazed windows.
All the apartments benefit from
a generous recessed balcony or
terrace typically connected to the
open plan kitchen dinning/living
space. The scheme was designed
as car-free, but provides one onstreet parking bay on Thornton
Road for blue badge holders
only; cycle parking is provided for
future and existing residents.
Finally, the scheme achieved an
urban greening factor of 0.4.
The landscape design enhances
biodiversity by introducing habitat
interventions - such as log piles,
bird and bat boxes, and bug
hotels - and food sources for
wildlife through a diverse planting
scheme, all of which can support
a wider network of vegetation and
migration corridors.

Project Data

Started on site January 2021
Completed September 2023
Number of units 14;
Unit types; 4 x 1-bed apartments; 7 x 2-bed apartments; 3 x 3-bed apartments
Tenure Social Rent, Shared Ownership, and Market Sale
Form of contract/procurement: Design and Build
Main Contractor I-Kew
Construction cost Undisclosed

Environmental performance data (as designed)

Predicted on-site renewable energy generation per year 10.1kW PV array
Airtightness at 50pa 3m3/h.m2
CO2 reduction above Building Regulations (2013) 71.9%

Awards

Shortlisted: 2024 AJ Awards: Completed Housing Project