News

Gort Scott attends the opening ceremony for Forest Road 100% affordable housing project

Today we celebrated the completion of Forest Road, with an opening ceremony hosted by Pocket Living and Legendre UK. The Deputy Mayor of London Housing, Tom Copley and the Leader of Waltham Forest, Grace Williams also joined the speeches, which took place with panoramic views of Walthamstow, from the Forest Road roof terrace.

Located in the heart of Walthamstow E17, Forest Road will deliver 90 one-bedroom discounted homes for local first time buyers. The new Pocket Living homes are on a prominent site opposite Lloyd Park and the William Morris Gallery — the Grade II* listed former home of the Arts and Crafts activist.

We’re looking forward to sharing professional photography of the project very soon.

RIBA Future Architects Mentoring Site Visit

Last week Gort Scott organised a walking tour of several projects for the RIBA Future Mentoring students in Waltham Forest, London. The tour covered the projects Central Parade (Phase 1 and Phase 2), Fellowship Square, Waltham Forest Town Hall and two Pocket Living projects: Forest Road and Gainsford Road.

Gort Scott has built up an intimate understanding of Waltham Forest, having been involved in many aspects of the Borough’s development since 2009, beginning with the Blackhorse Lane Area Action Plan and continuing with major regeneration of the Town Hall Campus. The Pocket Living scheme at Gainsford Road was shortlisted for an AJ Award (Housing) and Waltham Forest Design Award in 2021.

Sela-Jaymes Taylor shortlisted for The MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice

Congratulations to Sela-Jaymes Taylor, shortlisted for The MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice!

Sela is nominated for her work on Three Mills Studios. An experienced architect and conservation specialist, Sela joined Gort Scott as Associate in 2021. She also leads our Heritage and Retrofit Knowledge Group.

The W Awards, run in association with the Architectural Review and Architects’ Journal celebrate exemplary work by women and non-binary people, as well as research in the fields of gender and architecture. Read about the four shortlisted architects and their projects via Architects’ Journal.

Sela is pictured here in the Gin Still at Three Mills Studios.

Unity Place shortlisted for a RIBA London Award 2024

The RIBA London Awards shortlist has been announced and we’re happy to see Unity Place selected as one of 76 exemplary schemes in the city.

Unity Place is a social housing scheme delivered in collaboration with Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios and Alison Brooks Architects. It is the latest phase of Brent Council’s twenty-year South Kilburn Regeneration Programme. Completed in 2022, the development provides 235 bright and spacious homes in a cluster of contemporary mansion blocks arranged around planted courtyards. Alongside 100% affordable homes for local residents, the scheme incorporates an estate-wide energy centre, a publicly accessible play space and a community hub.

St Catharine’s College Cambridge shortlisted for RIBA East Awards 2024

We are delighted that St Catharine’s College Cambridge has been shortlisted for RIBA East Awards 2024. St Catharine’s is one of 17 projects selected from across the region. All projects shortlisted for RIBA Regional Awards will be visited by a regional jury, and the winning projects will be announced later this spring.

This major redevelopment project for St Catharine’s College included a new Hall at the heart of a series of transformed social spaces, alongside improvements to accessibility and circulation across facilities at the centre of the College’s historical estate. Read more on the St Catharine’s College project page.

Gateway West achieves a BREEAM rating of Outstanding

‘Outstanding’ is the highest level of certification on the BREEAM scale, the world’s foremost environmental assessment method.

Gateway West is a new workspace building located in the heart of White City Place, West London’s new media, technology and creative industries hub. Read more about Gateway West here, including details of the fantastic team who contributed to this achievement!

The project team set out to make an environmentally pioneering building, driven by passive design concepts and long-life loose-fit design principles, aspiring to simultaneously enhance the immediate urban and natural environment, reduce whole life carbon and improve occupant wellbeing.

Listed Building and Planning consent granted for 131 Gloucester Terrace

131 Gloucester Terrace is situated within a long row of Victorian mid-19th Century terraced houses in Paddington, West London. Our proposals for this sensitive refurbishment will bring a currently unoccupied building into beneficial use, providing affordable housing for rent in addition to larger family-sized units, in-line with local planning policy.

Historically, the building has been used for both office and residential accommodation and split into separate flats in the 1990s. Refurbishment of the Grade II listed building involves strategic spatial re-ordering coupled with the protection and restoration of historic features.

Read more about 131 Gloucester Terrace on the project page.

Student mentoring at Gort Scott with RIBA Future Architects

Gort Scott were excited to host a new cohort of students from Kingston University, London as part of RIBA Future Architects student mentoring scheme. The first of three sessions gave students an introduction to our refurbished studio in Bermondsey, an insight into our lives in practice and a presentation on the projects we work on.

For the last five years Gort Scott have helped the next generation of undergraduate students to gain a unique insight into the profession, helping them to prepare for a future career in architecture. The next session will see the mentees visit a range of completed, and in progress, projects across Walthamstow, including our two adaptive re-use schemes along Hoe Street, our recently completed homes for Pocket Living and our ongoing work within the Fellowship Square regeneration strategy.

In 2022/23, 1200 students across 37 RIBA validated Schools of Architecture took part in the scheme, in collaboration with 314 chartered practices. Gort Scott are proud to be able to support architects at all stages of their career and help to bridge the gap between education and practice.

Thank you to the Gort Scott team: Paul Wild and Ben Carter for planning and delivering the sessions.

Jay Gort invited to chair Royal Borough of Greenwich expert new Design Review Panel

“I am delighted to have been selected to chair this panel. Greenwich is a borough with a rich history and great potential for the future, and I am excited to work alongside my fellow panel members to contribute to the development of buildings and places that reflect the unique character and aspirations of the community. We will promote great design that is sustainable and makes a positive contribution to the lives of people living, visiting and working in this great part of London.” - Jay Gort, founding director of Gort Scott, and chair of Greenwich Design Review Panel.

Leading built environment professionals have been appointed to provide independent, objective, expert advice on development proposals across Greenwich. With experience in architecture, urban design, landscape and ecology, conservation, transport and sustainability, the Design Review Panel comprises 24 members with a broad range of expertise with particular relevance to Greenwich. The reviews will be managed by Frame Projects.

Read more from Director at Frame Projects, Deborah Denner, via LinkedIn.

Image: view over Woolwich Town Hall, Royal Borough of Greenwich.

Directors Jay Gort and Fiona Scott at Temple Bar Talks

Directors Jay Gort and Fiona Scott have been invited to give a talk by the Temple Bar Trust next Monday 6th November at 6.25pm, at Temple Bar in Paternoster Square.

Tickets are available here.

Temple Bar is an archway building designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and was once one of the gateways to the City of London. It was originally sited at the west end of Fleet Street and re-erected in its current location adjacent to St Paul’s Cathedral in 2004.

The talk will be about some of Gort Scott’s completed projects. There will be drinks after the talk at about 7.30 in the beautiful Wren gateway building. More info on the Events programme can be found here.

Woolwich Old Town Hall Retrofit

Won through invited competition in November 2022, Gort Scott are developing proposals for the Royal Borough of Greenwich to sensitively convert, with a low carbon approach and best practice sustainability, the Woolwich Old Town Hall into a successful business hub.

The Council objective is to bring forward a sustainable, modern, and flexible workspace offer to support new enterprise and business hubs in Woolwich town centre, while creating more opportunities for jobs, training and skills, and support networking and joint commission opportunities.

Gort Scott recently granted planning permission for the refurbishment and remodelling of the nearby Grade 2 listed Royal Arsenal Gatehouse.

Green light for Oxford North’s advanced lab buildings

We’re delighted to reach the milestone of planning consent for Plot C at Oxford North – an ambitious new science and technology district for Oxford being developed by Stanhope, Thomas White Oxford and Cadillac Fairview. Our proposals will provide a highly flexible new laboratory building at the heart of this district, bringing care and craft to its design and role in placemaking, in creating a vibrant new destination. It has been a pleasure to work collaboratively with such an outstanding team on this transformative project.



Lendlease summer placement programme with Gort Scott

Gort Scott ran a 1-week summer placement for two Year 12 students at London Design & Engineering UTC organised by Lendlease, in line with wider socioeconomic aspirations at Silvertown to promote STEM careers and encouraging work opportunities. The students were challenged to design a home for a young family by retrofitting a space within an existing building. Supported by mentors Edwin, Florence and Martin, the students Nicolos and Ben lead their own research and developed concepts, of which they successfully presented at Lendlease office among other students and mentors.

“Having my work experience with Gort Scott allowed me to increase my awareness of the architectural world and understand what sort of actions take place, from being given briefs that can vary very drastically, to spending days on end designing what you have been briefed on. The day to day is pretty relaxing with a lot of learning and putting practical skills to use. The environment is also very friendly. I am so glad to have had this work experience, thank you to my mentors and everyone else at Gort Scott” - Nicolos Makatsaria

Gort Scott visiting NLA conference ‘Scales of Circularity’

Associate Jonathan Mann visited the NLA conference ‘Scales of Circularity’ this week where NLA followed up their Circular London report with an inspiring discussion on how circular London is – and could be – today.

Topics ranged from effective ways to change a whole neighbourhood on the ground (Hounslow’s Heston In The Loop) to forward-thinking structural re-use by FORE Partnership (Tower Bridge Court) and Fabrix (Roots in the Sky). Located within walking distance of our own retrofitted office, these projects show what is possible when vision and will come from the top. While we wait for the comprehensive circular sector that we need, it was an invigorating reminder that the right teams, spotting the right opportunities, can still make great leaps forward together.

Gort Scott have a growing number of circular schemes in the pipeline, pushing anything from recycled materials and demountable fitouts to potential re-use of steel frames, and explore these ideas wherever we can. Our circular urban-scale proposals (with other members of London collective LondonOn) were recently awarded a commendation in international competition ‘Circular Block – Reinventing the Mikrorayan’. We’re excited to see these sustainable principles lived out in our own neighbourhood.

Directors Jay Gort and Fiona Scott at RIBA lecture in Oxford

Directors Jay Gort and Fiona Scott had the honour to present during the annual RIBA Lecture in the new riverside Pavilion at St Hilda’s College in Oxford.

The lecture “Resonance” included our own self-built office in Bermondsey, Three Mills Studios, St Catharine’s College, the Whistler house, and St Hilda’s College itself. Jay and Fiona presented insight into how the practice finds resonances with place and context, and how we work with the boundaries of what is existing and constantly evolving, and what is new, to make the settings for everyday spatial and social experiences.

“The beautiful evening on the riverside provided the perfect setting and illustration of our ideas about resonance. We’re grateful to RIBA and Oxford Preservation Trust for the opportunity, and as ever to all at St Hilda’s for their support.” – Director Fiona Scott