The Finsgate House scheme at 5-7 Cranbrook Street, for developer HUB, is the AJ100 practice’s latest major project near Old Street roundabout – the so-called Silicon Roundabout area of east London, close to where the practice has its studios.
The scheme consists of two buildings: a 35-storey tower with 490 co-living units, and a smaller five-storey office block offering 4,000m² of workspace plus associated landscaping.
The scheme at the junction of Cranbrook Street and City Road would replace the existing 1980s Finsgate House, which AHMM said ‘offers poor quality office space that presents a number of issues’.
Planning documents for the scheme say that between 95 and 98 per cent of demolished material – including bricks, concrete, steel and ceramics – could be reused in internal finishes, landscaping and for plant structure.
Each floor of the proposed tower typically contains 18 self-contained studios alongside communal amenity spaces and terraces spread throughout the building.
AHMM has already overseen the completion of 17-storey building The Bower, a retrofit and extension office development, and the White Collar Factory, a campus of office buildings with a 16-storey tower, which was home to a second AHMM Studio for several years.
Other towers planned for the Old Street area include Studio Kyson’s twice consented plans for a 14-storey tower, and KPF’s approved 35-storey tower. Surrounding buildings include Squire & Partners’ completed 23-story hotel, and Make Architects’ 40-storey The Atlas tower.