Relay Building
One Commercial Street is a 21-storey residential development, at the junction of Commercial Street and Whitechapel High Street, London E1. Despite the building's name, the main entrance is in Whitechapel High Street. The developer is Redrow.[1] The architects are Sigma Seifert.[2]
The building contractor John Sisk & Son, a member of the Sisk Group. Construction had been suspended in 2008, but with the recovery in the London housing market, it was purchased by Redrow. As well as 207 apartments, there will be 110,000 sq ft of offices over six floors, retail space on the ground floor and car parking in the basement.[3] The ground floor also incorporates one of the western entrances to Aldgate East tube station.
Design
The developer Redrow describes the building as "like a blade of light, its glass fin protruding dramatically to add a sculptural quality to Redrow London’s first flagship development".[1] Building Design, however, commented: "First flagship development? Please God let it also be their last. No one who can liken this incoherent hulk of ill-fitting glass sheets to a blade of light deserves to build again in such a sensitive location."[2] In July 2014, the building was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup,[2] awarded for "the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months".
The International Property Awards, on the other hand, honoured the building as "Best Residential High-Rise Development UK, 2013-14".[4][5]
Houblon Apartments and the "poor door"
The building includes, in compliance with planning legislation, an element of "affordable housing". This part of the development has its own name, "Houblon Apartments"; and a separate entrance, at one side of the building in Tyne Street. In July 2014, an investigation by The Guardian newspaper – commenting particularly on One Commercial Street – noted a growing trend for new housing developments in London to include separate, segregated entrances of this kind, known as "poor doors".[6][7]
In November 2014, Vice reported that, "for the past 20 weeks, every Wednesday between 6PM and 7PM, a group of locals from the anarchist action group Class War have stood outside the slick glass carbuncle with a banner promising to 'devastate the avenues where the wealthy live' – a nod to a 1915 quote from firebrand Chicago anarchist Lucy Parsons." After 18 weeks, the developer Redrow disposed of the freehold of the building. A week later, a director of the new owners, Hondo Enterprises, agreed to meet with Class War, and they have declared a temporary truce.[8]
References
- ^ a b Redrow London: One Commercial Street, Aldgate | Redrow London, accessdate: 24/08/2014
- ^ a b c Building Design: Carbuncle Cup: One Commercial Street, by Sigma Seifert Architects | Opinion | Building Design, accessdate: 24/08/2014
- ^ "One Commercial Street". John Sisk & Son. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ "National awards success is good news for consumers". Redrow. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ "UK 2013 Award Winners". propertyawards.net. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
- ^ Osborne, Hilary (25 July 2014). "Poor doors: the segregation of London's inner-city flat dwellers". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
- ^ Chris Low (2014-08-25). "Developers Installed a 'Poor Door' and a 'Rich Door' on a London Apartment Building". Vice.com.
- ^ Kleinfeld, Philip (27 November 2014). "British Anarchists Have Nearly Defeated the 'Poor Doors' On a London Block of Flats". Vice. Retrieved 28 November 2014.