The 113 dwellings on the estate are arranged in three linked blocks around an open courtyard. Built in the 1960s, the estate demonstrates the problem of urbanisation that arises with the relative density of four- and six-storey deck-access flats set in an open and poorly defined space. In a sense there is an abundance of space, but there is neither the dimension that open land affords, nor the structure and security that a garden provides. Our brief is to secure the entrance points and to landscape the space.

Early discussions with Shoreditch Trust NDC centred on the impact that the changes would have on the environment, on health, security, education and employment. The landscape design in particular has in this way been given a strong mandate to challenge conventions. The design is developed around themes such as exercise and horticulture.

Inside the newly secured courtyard we envisage a utilitarian garden of herbs and other frangrant plants at the heart of which a glade is planted with meadow grass. It is designed to remove those who live here to some rural idyll.

Entrances will be designed to address the conflicting needs of security and access, waste collection and recycling, postal delivery and bike storage. Identity is also crucial to integrating these three big blocks, i.e. these homes into the local fabric of the city. New Corten steel and enamel painted gates secure the courtyard. Each entrance screen is fret cut or painted with a unique “wallpaper” pattern which evokes the bucolic environment that we are creating at the heart of the estate.

The project raises challenges in combining the needs of London Borough, Shoreditch Trust NDC, leaseholders and council tenants. The scheme is being developed in conjunction with landscape architect Landscape Projects, graphic designer Pat O’Leary Environmental Design and cost consultant BPTW.

The scheme is currently on site and will complete in 2009.