Truman's Public Inquiry - Tuesday 14 October 2025, 1:07pm

Truman's Public Inquiry
Tuesday, 14th October 2025 at 1:07pm

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Can I just ask a couple of things and thank you for the comfy chair, that's great.

Mr Harris, do you have an indication of how long the presentation is likely to take?

Yes, I do, sir.

I think it would be between 90 minutes and 120 minutes.

These are architects, so you probably got to add 5 % or so for that.

But it's not going to be repetitious and it's not going to be lengthy.

It's going to be directional and narrative.

Well, I'm content in that we can do it in one sitting.

I think we can.

Yeah. It's just what we do.

We have a break at the end of that.

We're at five past one.

Is there anything else we're going to try and do today looking at the timetable?

Is it worth Mr. Burrell perhaps giving evidence in chief if he's here?

Mr. Burrell, because he was expecting to be giving evidence tomorrow, he's actually no

longer here this afternoon, so won't be able to give evidence in chief unless he's kind

of called back.

Are we in the position then where we're going to hear the presentation and then draw stumps

for the day then?

Is that how it looks?

Is there any reason why Mr. Burrow needs to go first or can the Council move a witness forward?

Sir, I was due to discuss matters with Mr. Frohman overnight, I'm afraid.

That's fine then, in which case we'll hear the presentation and then finish.

Sir, can I just say while I have the mic, I gather there have been some requests about filming within the inquiry chamber.

I know that there is an official, Mr. Ianno is filming

and live streaming it.

It may be helpful for members of the public

to know whether they are also allowed to film.

Well, really, I'm quite content

with the inquiries being live streamed as a public service.

That's, you know, I'm quite content with that.

It's not uncommon these days.

Generally speaking, if people are filming for private use or to post it on social media

or whatever, I must admit I'm not entirely comfortable about that without everybody in

the room's permission because, well, I can understand the purpose of general live streaming,

but I think taking, filming the proceedings for your own use is a different question.

I'm not altogether comfortable with it, I have to say.

And I don't know, Mr. Harris, if you have a view

or if you discussed it with you.

No, I haven't.

I mean, I have no objection personally,

but then I'm not speaking for the entirety of my team

and I haven't asked them and I share your concerns.

Mr. Wall, did you have a view about it?

I think in essence the view is that if the...

...universally seen as being useful in cases

where there's an architectural party that needs explaining

to an architect inspector without a lawyer involved,

I will say in terms of propriety, all the images that you'll see are already in evidence,

one place or another, either in the proofs or in that document there or in the committee

report.

A hard copy of the presentation will be available after it is given, as will be a translation.

There will be, as I've said, a bit of coming and going in that we start with Mr. Yeoman

and then move to two other architects and then come back to Mr. Morris.

So I think they're going to switch seats there.

Otherwise I'm not going to shut up.

I'm content with all that.

I'm just going to move there.

Can I just make sure you've got a screen there

and you can all see it.

Perfect.

Okay, thank you very much.

I will I'll resist the urge to jump up excitedly when I'm taking you through the scheme because of the microphone and the live screen

Says streaming so I will I will sit down

I am aware that my profession can wax lyrical for hours about our scheme, so I will try and keep it quite quite punchy

I'm likely to be about

40 minutes or so just for the master plan and then as mr. Harris has said we'll hand over to the other architects

I'm going to take you through just a very brief background of myself and my practise

There's a little tiny bit about the wider team because I'm representing a wider design

team than just myself.

And then we'll get straight into the site and then into the design.

So my name is Matt Yeoman.

I'm a qualified architect for 31 years.

I set up Buckley Grey Yeoman 28 years ago.

So we've been in practise almost 30 years, 28 years.

Of those 28 years, all of those years have been in Shoreditch.

And the last 20 have been in the T building, which is about a three to four minute walk from the site

So whilst I'm on master plan, I also feel that very much part of the community. I've been around

The site for many many years as a practise over those over those 28 years

We've worked on a whole variety of scales of project from small

refurbishments through to large master plans

But I think it's fair to say that a large amount of our work over that period of time

has been about combining the old and the new, about knitting in the historic and the contemporary,

and really about reuse, refit, and recycle.

We now have offices in London, Bristol, and Madrid, but primarily a huge amount of our

work has been central and east London over those years, and often with very diverse communities

who are facing the challenges and opportunities of the evolution of time

and the progression of their communities. Immediately, I'm just going to take you through a

couple of projects which I think are relevant. This is nothing new to us.

Fifteen years ago we were working just around the corner of

Fashion Street, again with a Grade II listed building and an education

building. Behind this building still is operating very successfully and won a

number of awards at the time. This is immediately adjacent to the site but we

We have also in other sort of, in Clark and Well,

recently completed a project where

there is a bombed piece of site and an enlisted building

again, the old and the new coming together.

But also, wider field, other communities

which are going through this change and transition

in Fish Island, in Hackney Wick, a lot

of the artistic community based there.

This has now been implemented.

It's a master plan housing and commercial scheme

and public realm space, which is finished and now built out

and been very successfully occupied and used.

Not only in the East End of London but also in the historic Estates of London project,

again an R .O .B .A. award -winning sustainability scheme for Grosvenor Estates in Pimlico.

This is actually very similar to some of the yard sizes that I'll take you through in a

minute but it does show the activities, the diversity, the cultural uses that go on as

well as the maintaining of the historic fabric of the buildings and the backyard nature of

the site and immediately just coming back to Tower Hamlets again we have

heritage experts within our own office as architects and working with

Department W many of you will know this building further down Marland Road which

we completed a few years ago and again it's been a great success of the of the

old and the new so I like to think that we're we're local we've been around the

site for many many years we've worked with the Truman brewery itself for as a

client for over eight years so we we feel that we do know the area and we do

know the client.

So to take you through the project itself

and how we arrived at that, I mean,

one of our great challenges and opportunities,

but sometimes frustrations of an architect

is that we have to take on board everything you've

heard this morning, as well as the client's brief,

and we have to come up with a single solution

at a moment in time.

So I'll take you through how we got to that now.

I mentioned at the beginning that I'm here

talking as the master planner, but I

and one of representing a much bigger team.

Not only the five globally renowned design -led architects

that are responsible for the individual buildings,

but also the wider technical team,

not only the client itself, Truman Brewery,

the development manager, the planning consultant,

but also Arup, Spacehub, Publica in terms of,

again, they are globally renowned

for working with local communities.

Townscape consultancy is this historic nature of the site,

and also the townscape view.

So it's a very, very experienced and respected team of people

that I'm representing here this afternoon.

Not only has the internal team been

a very collaborative process, but also the wider process

as well has been collaborative.

You mentioned earlier that this design process has been

going on for over two years.

That process has involved not only working

with the local authorities design officers and planning

officers and conservation officers, but also with Heritage England, pre -application process,

but also over three public consultations as well that we undertook and the quality review

panel.

So what I'm about to take you through has been looked at extensively and informed and

helped in that design process.

It's not just sort of one from me.

There's some photos there just of that consultation process.

So just for clarity, what I'll be taking you through immediately now is the main site,

which is to the east, I'm sure you're aware of that.

Mr Morris and Mr Henney will take you through, sorry, Mr Morris will take you through Edi

Yard and Block A. They were not part of my master plan, but they were part of the ethos

and part of the discussion, and so there was a synergy between the designs of those sites.

So the main site itself, I think we've heard extensively this morning already just how

loved this part of London is, how globally important it is, how exciting it is, how vibrant

it is, and all of the parties I think agree with the special nature of the Treeman Brewery

site.

It's very interesting as you walk up Brick Lane, you walk through the wider conservation

area, if you walk Brick Lane from the south to the north,

you have this incredible mix of the Banglatown

and the wonderful restaurants and the vibrancy.

As you move further north, on the west side,

you have the Fournier Street and Princes Street and Georgia.

But then almost immediately, you cross over Hanbury Street.

You're into this much more industrial sort of campus,

which was historically for hundreds of years

the Truman Brewery, the densification of that site.

It feels very different as you cross Hanbury Street

and you move into the campus.

I think as today, this is now an aerial shot of where

as we look at that campus, and you can quite clearly

make out the size and the buildings that form that.

The northeast corner is this missing piece of the jigsaw.

I've used this phrase from very early on in the process.

It feels like the corner piece of the jigsaw is missing.

And that's our role to try and put that back

in in a way that completes the jigsaw in a harmonious way without destroying all of the

community and the facilities and the local area that we've heard so much about this

morning.

I identified the buildings, I can come back to this just for clarity if anybody needs

to do so.

But let's just have a look at the existing buildings around the site.

So Block O is the boiler house, that's a listed building and sits with the chimneys

and around about 1940s was built.

We then have a sit going clockwise around the page. We have a series of low -rise

industrial low

Low architectural merit sure one say that have evolved over time primarily as a little storage unit

With the exception of the picture in the middle, which is the cooperage the heritage asset not non listed building

As well as the physical buildings on the site

We also have a couple of planning

planning consents. The first of which is 140 146 Brick Lane which was designed by

our own practise. That piece of work I'll talk through in a second.

The second piece of the data centre which was an extant

planning commission was not part of our work with the Truman Brewery over the last

eight years or so. When we designed and got the planning permission for this

building we designed it very much in the knowledge that the missing piece of the

jigsaw would come later.

And so in some ways, it was the sort

of the piece of the jigsaw that sticks out,

or the piece that you connect to.

It continued Dre's walk.

It established Black Eagle Square

in anticipation of work which may come in the future.

Unfortunately, the data centre was not designed in that way,

and is almost like the broken piece of the jigsaw.

We have the corner, but there's a piece missing.

It won't connect.

And in many, many ways, this building is, because of that,

in our view didn't, was not an appropriate location.

We've heard, and we will hear later on,

about the critical need for data centres.

The question for us is, was this in the right place

in terms of the master plan?

And I think, as we'll come onto in a minute,

explain why what we want to try and do with the master plan

became evident that this building facing Allen Gardens

with its fortress -like feel was not the appropriate location.

And that's why as master planners,

we felt we should try and look at a different location

for the data centre.

So we've looked at the existing buildings very briefly.

We've looked at the extended consents.

So when we set about, before we started

to look at the master planning of the site,

we wanted to establish some sort of principles for ourself.

And we condensed that to three things, place, people, and plus.

Place, we began to look at, if we could,

capturing in a very simple way the essence of the place and there is a huge

amount of heritage across the site and there are some specific bits of heritage

on our own site and so that was number one. Number two was how do we connect to

the green space that the missing piece of the jigsaw at the moment is not

green it's a car park it's a service yard can we soften that in some way and

link to the green spaces around us. The other thing which leapt out at us is is

the street art of Brick Lane and of the Truman Brewery particularly. Some of it

curated, some of it has just evolved over time. But I think if you

were to show this picture, perhaps without Buxton Street stuck on the wall,

a lot of people would immediately say Brick Lane and that's quite a

powerful thing. We've also heard this morning from Mr. Harrison and others

about how the Brick Lane and the Truman Brewery has been curated over the

last 30 years. It hasn't been gentrified whatsoever. It has been curated and as a

result it has become this absolutely global destination if you go down there

the weekends and the evenings during the day the mix of people down there

specifically coming to the Truman brewery is is quite impressive so

heritage green space arts and a destination so let's take you through

some diagrams beginning with the heritage the boiler house and the

cooperage are two of our biggest assets in this piece of the of the master plan

the rest of the buildings I think have been acknowledged by all parties as

having very little merit.

By clearing those buildings away,

we are now giving ourselves the opportunity

to plan the site as we feel fit.

And how can we relate to those two heritage buildings?

We've freed them up from the single storey warehouses.

And now how do we engage with them?

Well, that's partly about the non -physical aspects

of the site.

And how do we, we'll hear a lot, I'm sure,

over the next three weeks.

We've heard a lot this morning already and as part of the community we've heard it for 20 years and we totally

Agree, and we feel that we're very much part of that

but the vibrancy of the community

The residents that live there the people that just come and work there and the people that visit there that mishmash is

Very unique to London. I would I would argue so how do we connect this?

Space which is currently cleared to our heritage assets, and how do we connect that to this?

Well, the first thing we wanted to do was open it up and allow all of those people and all of that vibrancy to come

into our site

there are some

Existing openings to the to the to the site already a couple of them with the arrows coming down clock house

Street and also coming in from spittle Street are closed off. They were historic routes in but they're currently they're closed

As is the entrance in through through Buxton Street

Draywalk at the lower level that was designed by us or anticipated by us by the our earlier planning

Consent as to be a route into the site

So taking the existing locations and how can we open up those locations?

Better than they are at the moment was was point number one point number two

Which is step one on this slide is can we introduce some new some new openings to the to the site beyond those already exist?

A very important one for us was the connexion to Allen Gardens and that you can see on the

biggest bowl, the biggest circle if you like.

So the connexion to Allen Gardens was really, really, really important to us.

So I'm just watching my time for you.

Having identified those new connexions, it was then important as we were to move into

the master plan to ensure that whatever was to come in terms of our pen, those entrances

were identified in some sort of way.

So as you walked around, you could logically see where those entrances are.

Clearly, ones that already exist, for example, the Cooperage,

it already has a very clear identity, albeit that it's not open at the moment.

So identifying those key gateways was important.

And then step three, connecting those walkways.

So they had a logical, a comfortable way of walking through.

They weren't forced.

They weren't you weren't you weren't making it difficult for people to connect those those openings and those links

Step four was to move beyond the simplicity of a straight line and to understand and appreciate that there are a

hierarchy of routes around the area within the context and we should in somehow try to

Understand though that hierarchy and to introduce some of that hierarchy within our own our own streets and you can see from here

The width of those spaces are directly

related to some of the widths of our surrounding streets

and yards.

So Brick Lane, four metres, the seven metres of Spital Street

being reflected within our own design.

At the connexion of those routes,

we began to look at the idea of this

is where yards could exist.

This is where they have historically existed

at turning points.

that this idea of compression and release

as you walk around the urban fabric.

And so once we identified step five,

which is the location of those yards,

we then again tested the size of those yards.

And we took our clues immediately

from some of the yards right next to us on Brick Lane.

But we wanted to ensure that they were large enough

to be of a use and an ability to relate to what may take place

in those yards.

but they weren't too big to almost feel piazza -like or square -like,

which we felt was absolutely not the character of this area.

It is in other parts of London, but not in this particular area.

The yards felt much more comfortable at this scale.

Having looked at the widths of the routes and the sizes of the yards,

we then began to explore the character of those yards.

We'll hear a bit more in a minute, and we've heard from others as well,

that the western portion of the site does tend to be a little bit more urban, a little

more grainy, a little bit more activity on Brick Lane, whereas the east of the site is

moving into the quieter, more residential aspect of not only our area but the wider

borough.

So looking at Coopridge Yard and looking at Chimney Yard, and I'll come onto this in a

bit more detail.

I mentioned Black Eagle Yard, that was part of our earlier consent that we had on Whitsier

so that was already anticipated as being part of this bigger piece of the jigsaw.

Whilst we were doing this piece of work, it was also important that these yards enabled

and opened up views both within the site, say of the chimney and the cooperage and the

boiler house, but also allowed views out a bit more. So they were slightly tweaked and

moved and just adjusted ever so slightly to ensure that there were views in and out of

site.

This diagram just touches on what I said a minute ago about the transition across our

site.

So from the left of the screen, this is Brick Lane.

This is where we feel there's a lot more activity.

It's a much busier street than Spittles Street, which is on the right, which is much more

residential.

Interestingly, the transition between the Truman Brewery as a campus and the residential

nature of the east of the borough, if you like, actually already exists. There's about

a 13 or 14 metre green space that runs down on the right -hand side of Spital Street, which

already has that buffer zone as soon as you pass through that. But we wanted to bring

a bit of that into our site so you can see the difference between Chimney Yard and Coopridge

yard, one being harder on the left of the screen and one being softer on the right of the screen.

I talked a bit a minute ago about just looking at the scale and the size of the yards. We looked at

ones immediately around Brick Lane, but then we also looked slightly wider and this was really

to understand how the scale of those spaces could be used. It was more about are they big enough to

be used and what could they be used for and so we did look a little bit wider. We looked at our own

Eccleston Yards in Pimlico and we looked at other

other sites in London

Not necessarily for context, but just for usability and size and space

We did the same for the Cooperage Yard scale

The yards at the top quite recent they've just been built at Shoreditch just by Shoreditch underground and approved very successful

So bringing this all together

new routes

hierarchy of public, of new entrances,

hierarchy of public routes,

yards where those routes engage, usable size.

We then took that through to the figure ground

drawing on the right hand side.

At this point we felt the jigsaw really fitted.

I think if you showed that to somebody

and said where's the new bit,

it would be very difficult to identify.

And if you look at that then in the wider context,

I mentioned earlier the two sites that Mr. Morris will

speak about later, again, we were very reassured

that the figure ground was comfortable,

that the jigsaw didn't jar.

It didn't jar with the rest of the campus

and that it felt appropriate.

Again, trying to identify which is new,

I think it's difficult to do so.

So that left us with a series of plots.

The public realm led it, the heritage led it,

and the entrances and opening up the site led to this point.

At this point, we now have a series of plots.

So what we wanted to do at that point

was just question ourselves as to whether those plots were

appropriate to the context.

How did they, what sort of size were those plots,

and how did they relate to other pieces

of the Truman brewery estate.

There's more detail in the evidence, but this is a little summary.

We got comfortable that those were appropriate sizes in the context.

So having established the figure ground, checked the plot sizes, we then started to move into

three -dimensional shapes of the buildings themselves and how those shapes could relate

to their immediate context.

So I'm going to take just take you around in a clockwise direction from from number one

So the starting point with the chimney was ensuring that there was this clear offset zone

Around the chimney which meant that the views of the chimney that currently exist are not impeded

And in some ways could there be new views and opened up by by having this this zone of

No go zone one of the best phrase

We then move to Buxton Street.

At the moment, Buxton Street has very little, if any, pavement adjacent to the current wall

you would have seen on your site walk around, but has this amazing green space, or potentially

amazing green space, there's a few little issues at the moment, to the north.

And if whatever we put there, that building should give back to its external surroundings

as well as its internal surroundings.

So setting setting the building back on the massing back on Buxton Street was a very very early principle

Allowing that area to green as well come across the street and then as we move around to the corner

This is where we felt that that that corner piece

should be able to identify that you are arriving at the Truman campus if you are coming from the east and so having a

Having a piece and mr. Morris will talk through in a minute

but having a building there identified as a number for which had a sort of

and a form or a shape which was memorable, identifiable,

gave you this clue that you were heading towards

the Truman Estate in a way that you see

the bridge coming over as you come up

from the south of Brick Lane, currently,

the current set up.

And then, of course, as we come further around,

come moving around in a clockwise direction,

we have to relate in scale and massing

to the Coopridge Building, and that building stepped down

in order to do that.

As we move down to site J, which is number five,

this is where, as a master planner,

we felt was the most appropriate location for the residential.

Historically, it had been the residential part.

And I think if I go back very, very quickly to that missing

jigsaw piece, you will see, if you look at this here,

If you look at the bottom block where Block J is identified,

clearly that has a different feel and a different scale

to the rest of the campus.

So that is why in very early terms

we felt that that was the most appropriate location

for some residential.

And there'll be an opportunity to put back the form

that the Liffwaffe had taken in their master planning years

earlier.

We can go and have a look at the model if you'd like to.

But having made those big moves, if you like,

in terms of stepping away from the chimney, pulling back,

we then began to look more detailed and more closely

at each of the buildings themselves with the plot

architects.

Could those buildings be sculpted, adapted,

setback in a much more subtle way than perhaps the master plan diagram had

initially proposed. So that sort of resulted in the forms of the buildings

that you see in the model and I can explain briefly why they are. So

that sort of brings together the forms. We've made the

public realm, we've made the courtyards, we've now made the plots, we've adjusted

the plots because of the context and then we further adjusted those plots

with their immediate relationship to each other

and to the wider buildings that they sit close to.

A little diagram just highlighting the public realm.

That brings us to uses.

So we've done the public realm, we've done the plots,

we're beginning to, but the vibrancy is all about the use.

It's all about the use and the activity,

particularly at the ground floor level.

This is where Publica, who I think everybody

will acknowledge, one of the world leaders

in public space uses and analysis,

they worked with the team to ensure that, for example,

number one, community uses are distributed

throughout the master plan.

They're not just in one location.

The uses on Buxton Street, where it faces Allen Gardens,

are a lively activity that engage with the gardens

and allow people in the gardens.

So I'll show you in a minute

what that actually means in reality.

But those uses are different to what would happen

on Spittles Street, which is a quieter street.

It's a more residential street.

So as we come round to number two on the screen

about how those uses work on building 3A and 3B.

Number three of public as sort of golden rules, as it were,

was that there should be adaptability of uses

and an overlapping of uses across the master plan.

And I think one sees that to date in the Truman Brewery.

And I think what we want to do is continue or allow

that to continue through our master planning, not just now,

but on into the future.

The sort of loose fit buildings, almost modern warehouses,

for want of a better phrase, that

allow uses to change over time and adapt.

And so that also led to just, we moved

to the sort of right hand side of the block now,

ensuring that the uses were not just tied

to the daytime or weekend.

They also, they were activities that

allowed the nighttime ecosystem to work and function

in the way that the rest of the Truman Brewery does.

And then as we follow on with, we've got consultation with the wider community about

how those uses are.

Our role, I think, is to ensure that those uses can happen and then what those uses are

will come and follow and adapt into the future as the – all over the Truman Brewery.

How does that actually – how does those golden rules transfer into what we're actually

proposing in this solution.

So you can see that to the north, the restaurant, the cafe,

the retail space is open out to Allen Gardens.

As we come around to Spital Street,

they almost look more inward, the microbrewery, the art

gallery, a little retail space, just perhaps a coffee shop.

As we move down to site J, we're back to the Cash and Carry

that exists and is loved and is used very, very much.

So that goes back.

That's outward facing.

And then the market, which is currently there,

the centre of building two, which I'll talk about in the middle,

it comes back.

And that market operates in the way

very much like other parts of the Truman

operate at the moment, where it changes

at various times of the year and various months

as it goes through its adaptable space.

I've talked about this already, but it's just

looking at how the different yards are used.

Coopridge Yard is very much seen as the softer, quieter.

So there's play space there.

There's more green landscaping.

It's much more of a space where you can dwell and a slower space

Whereas chimney yard, which is to the to the to the west?

Is a much more flexible?

Multi -use space where exhibitions can happen external events can happen

They link to the cinema they link to the exhibition space a much more lively active space and then Black Eagle yard

Is where the marketplaces so that arguably that's more of a sort of shopping II go

sort of place. Bringing that all together, you can see the exhibition and event space

for the extension to the Boiler House, block 3A, 3B, block 2 in the middle, the market

as I mentioned off to Coopridge, the cinema, the exhibition space out into Chimney Yard

and then as you come down to Black Eagle Yard, that's where the direct relationship to the

south of the site. That resulted in ensuring that there were a pepper pot of entrances

and activities. No one grand entrance to the Truman Brewery. You will discover entrances

as you move through the public realm. It's almost, there's no forced sort of grand entrance.

It's very much not the nature of the place. A lot of work was done in terms of servicing

and accessing how the site is serviced. We wanted to ensure that the service yard was

large enough to cope with the whole of the master plan,

but small enough to go in one building.

So that it didn't expand, and you

didn't have several buildings acting as service yards.

So block 3B has a service yard on its ground floor,

which is sufficient in size for the whole of the master plan

area.

And any distribution of Amazon parcel deliveries

from that point are done by hand, bicycle, trolley from that point.

So I'm just going to take you through some images looking at the yards.

This is particularly chimney yard. You can see the diagram at the bottom.

I've already spoken about the active, the harder landscaping of this space.

Then as we go into Coopridge Yard, a much more domestic feel to this space

with the greenery, the play space, the market,

the views throughout to Allen Gardens,

and the Black Eagle Yard with the market,

Building 2 is above the market, which I'll talk you through very shortly.

And then Mr Morris will talk more about this in detail, but

not only views out from our yard, but also views in,

an activity that draws you in from

That's very much treatmentism.

You walk along, you look down a little alleyway,

you see some activity, and you wander down there,

not necessarily quite knowing what's going to be there.

It's a voyage of discovery.

And then within the master plan itself,

Coopridge Lane between blocks 3A and 3 -2,

perhaps doesn't quite have the hierarchy of the other two routes

in terms of its relationship to the wider context,

but it is an important link for us

between those two spaces.

And it has activity and has entrances along that route.

So having looked at the roots, the public realm,

the buildings, the shaping of the buildings,

the uses of those buildings, and how that activity comes,

you will remember one of my earlier slides

talked about art.

Truman had been exemplar, really,

in the way that they've managed the street art

over the last 30 years.

much of it curated, particularly art that you see at a higher level,

either sculpture or painting.

But then at a lower level, that's much more transient.

That can just happen and it changes and it's quite sporadic.

We wanted to ensure that in all of the architects that had designed the buildings,

they had allowed for those possibilities for art within their designs

and that that art could be seen from the squares in the public realm

that we were designing.

This is just some facts and figures on the active frontage.

So having arrived at everything I've just taken you through,

and I'm just conscious of checking my time for you,

so this has resulted in an almost 700 % increase

in the activity from what is currently on the site.

So I think there may well be discussion about exactly what

use goes where, but just the pure opening up

of the site and the opportunity that exists through those active frontages, I think is

going to, is not only going to transform this piece, but more importantly it's going to

keep the soul and the character of the rest of the treatment site that we've all enjoyed

and seen over many, many years.

I'll take you through some last CGIs now, just take you around.

So here is looking from the north of Brick Lane, you've come under the railway, you're

heading down towards, and you can see building,

just buildings 3A and 3B appearing

over the trees of Allen Gardens.

To your left, the chimney visible.

And then as we look from the sort of middle of Brick Lane

where the Dre Walk and the bridge currently is, again,

very little impact at this point.

The ring of no go, if you like, for the Truman Chimney,

I think is evident in this view.

Buxton Street, again the chimney is prominent, the green is there, the new building is on

the left.

I think when you first see that image you probably don't think it's a new building.

I'm sure we'll talk over the next few days about the height and massing of that building.

For us this building was very much about giving an enclosure to Allen Gardens in a way that

a lot of London squares have.

I think once, with the single height of the wall it is at the moment, Allen Gardens feels

a bit exposed and I think if we can if we can enclose that that would be a good

thing it's also allows this building to overlook Allen Gardens has had some

activity at the ground floor with the wider pavement that Mr. Morris will take

us through very shortly. We come around the corner to Spital Street I think

immediately you notice a quieter sense of the space the Cooperage building

brought back to life with this entrance reopened and taking you through to

of Coopridge Square, the new building,

to the south in building one in terms of its scale,

its massing, its materiality,

connecting the piece to the Coopridge.

Then moving down to block J is on the left.

Mr. Henne will take us through that in a bit more detail

very shortly, but again, that just gives you a view

as you look down through Woodsteer Street.

Just going internally now, this is Black Eagle Yard at the end of the new Dre Walk, or extending

of Dre Walk through to the Market Building, Building 2, which I'll talk to you about

shortly in the middle of the site. Coopridge Yard is slightly bigger, you've seen this

image already, but hopefully you note the green, the softness of the architecture, the

the sort of balancing of the heritage aspect of the cooperage

on our right, the new architecture,

the views through to Allen Gardens, the link to the north.

And then as we've come to Chimney Yard, the chimney

itself, the Corten extension by Chris Thyssen architects

of the exhibition space.

Note the sort of the grand door that allows that to open

and has that sort of warehouse feel that allows spaces

to connect to this public space.

So that's the end of the master plan.

I can take any questions or I can take you through block two,

which happens to be one of ours.

Shall I do that?

OK.

So I'll take you through block two, which

my practise responsible for designing,

and then I'll hand over to Mr. Morris to take us through 3A.

So block two sits in the middle of the master plan.

I talked you through earlier about how that process went,

And I'll just do that a little bit more detail. This is where this is crudely where block two sits as a as a block

Currently there's a race. There's a low single -use building there at the moment, so

We began with the block and obviously that's quite a banal place to start so we sort of is then decided

How that block could be formed and shaped to best suit the heart of the master plan?

Pulled back to form market Lane the visuals. I showed you earlier which connected the two the two new yards

We extended the massing up to a level which we felt,

and actually officers agreed, Heritage Union agreed,

was an appropriate height for the middle.

It's a little bit higher than the surrounding buildings,

but it is in the middle of the master plan.

Felt that that could be an acceptable level.

And then we began to sculpt that building

in direct relationship to the yards that it addressed

and the views that could be opened up

if you cut that building back.

So this was this was about minimising the impact of the building rather than maximising floor space

Just on the subject of floor space I mentioned earlier that our office has been in the T building

I think we went into the T building when we were about 15 people and we're now about 150

But we've remained in the same building and that is super super important because what it does it allows businesses to be embryonic

Allows them to grow and allows them to stay in the same place

As a practise we've designed lots and lots of office buildings. We've converted lots of office buildings

The ability to be able to go from a single tenant to two tenants to three tenants to a variety of tenants

Which again?

Hopefully you may have seen on your on your site visit the extraordinary nature of the sizes of businesses that exist within the Truman

We wanted to ensure that our new buildings allowed that to happen in terms of materiality

We're demolishing buildings on the site and our starting point is can we reuse any of that material and we think we can

and we want to provide, particularly the recycled metal,

a lot of the buildings are metal sheds.

A lot of that material has a longer life in it,

and can we use those within our new buildings,

perhaps areas where we can create art

and reuse that metal rather than throwing it away.

When it came to the brick itself,

we wanted to explore the notion

of a slightly more contemporary feel, a lighter brick.

Also, because this building's

in the middle of the master plan,

a lighter building generally reflects light around it.

So for the master plan itself,

having a lighter building is actually quite a,

it's not only is it the heart,

but it's almost the light bulb of the master.

That building, ensuring that there are levels

of outside space for the people who work there

with balconies, but making sure that they don't go

to a point where they are overlooking residential

to our east.

And so that's why the outside space doesn't go all the way up the building.

There are other spaces as you come around to this side

where you've got the communal space on top of the market.

And again, trying to pick up on some of the industrial nature

of the Truman Campus itself, which indeed is very different to

Princeland Street, Fournier Street, etc.

That's it from me. Hopefully that's not too long. It's clarified everything.

And Mr Morris, I'll hand over to you for block three.

Good afternoon.

So just checking everybody can hear me speaking at the back.

So yeah, in fact if I sit here that's even better isn't it?

There you go.

And you can see as well

Yeah, so I have the I guess the task the honourable task and responsibility to take you through three sites

as part of this afternoon's proceedings

Obviously that's already talked about block three which sits on the sort of northern also the northeastern corner of the main site

Which being an office building with a range of uses at ground floor, which I'll take you through

Elly's Yard, similarly with a sort of ground floor or a mixture of uses with Workplace

Above sitting on the northern part of the Elly's Yard site, and then Block A with the

view here along Calvin Street towards Greigle Street, which is the data centre that we've

already touched on this morning.

I think the critical thing to say from the outset, and again, it's sort of picked up

in many of the counter statements which have been produced, is just to make absolutely

abundantly clear that the methodology that we've employed as a group of internationally

renowned architects, as a collaboration, has been truly design -based, iterative, explorative,

innovative.

By virtue of the models, you can see just a small selection here.

But it has been a kind of full head -on dive into this, not something which is a copybook

and paste approach, but something which is really about sort of getting underneath the

skin of the site.

And it is a one holistic approach to everything.

So even though two of the sites sit outside

of the main master plan site, or the main site as we call it,

every single plot has gone through the same, I suppose,

conduit or sort of rencher of design, creativity, thinking.

And again, this idea that any of this isn't heritage led,

I think, is also a false accusation.

The entire project is all about responding

to engaging with, binding with the legacy, the history,

both culturally, architecturally,

and in terms of its place.

I am Joe.

So I am the namesake of the business.

So I have been in practise since 1996, I think, or 95.

Qualified in 99.

I was an award -winning student.

I got a first -class degree.

I was recommended for the bronze medal.

The practise has won multiple awards

on a national, regional, and international stage as well.

We now number 70 -ish people across the two studios,

one in London, one in Copenhagen.

We are, I say, a design -led, iterative, client -based,

place -based practise, as well as being

a practise which is kind of on the borders with the borough.

So again, we're just in the southern end of Hackney.

I've lived in town hamlets for about a decade.

And I can't say anything other than I

take it as honest as a true reflection of just how

important I realise this project is.

I haven't gone into this without understanding that.

And it's an extremely important thing for my career as well,

to get absolutely right.

And that's what we've tried to do throughout the journey

of this project.

There are sort of several projects here,

just to give an indication of the spread of the type of work

that we do.

It's worth saying at this point that, and again,

the point of just spilling out the recognition of the practise

to make sure you understand and be clear that we're

a business of integrity.

So we've won the Stephen Lawrence Prize, the Mansa

Medal, we've won UMTIN national and international RBA awards.

We've been shortlisted for the European Prize, Civic Trust Awards, and actually currently

have won a number of awards for our excellence in delivering offices as well.

So again, it's kind of an air of a specialism that we bring, as well as his idea of working

within context.

So top left is Featherstone Street near Bunhill, which is obviously a Grade 1 listed monument.

Bottom left is Norton Folgate, which again has a history, and I'm sure many people in

this room will be very familiar with it.

That went on a 10, 11 -year journey.

Both of those projects did.

The middle one is in Curtin Road,

which is a sort of locally listed block

within the Shoreditch Conservation Area, top right

as well.

Bottom right is a careful sort of stitch cut,

kind of sew in for a really complicated site

down in Richmond.

And then the one in the middle is an energy centre

in the heart of the Elephant Castle.

So again, these three projects, I think, in fact, it is three,

sort of give a sense that we bring,

I guess, to each of the three plots

a level of experience and knowledge about how to approach these projects.

And again, for everyone here, it's not just a case of, again, just plonking a building

on a site.

Actually, what you're trying to do always is to manage a brief, both in terms of the

kind of internal programme, but also a brief in terms of the wider context, the policies,

and so forth.

So it's a complicated thing to be an architect in this day and age.

So going to the master plan site, I think Mr. Yeoman, Matt as we call him, has done

an ample job of explaining how the framework for the main site has evolved and we're

looking at this project on the top right hand corner.

It's identified as sort of one use, one entrance I suppose, but actually the way that we've

been designing this is a building which can be broken down into an infinite number of

sort of different occupiers.

And therefore, we've always been thinking of it

as a sort of cluster of buildings arranged

around a sort of simple sort of interface between the blocks.

It's also worth saying, again, Mr. Yeoman presented this

on his presentation, this idea that the site itself

has been an ongoing process.

And in fact, the same as has been already pointed out

this morning, and various other counter proofs

that the site has been ongoing and changing

and occupied and unoccupied, and things emerging,

and things filling the space.

Again, we're part of a legacy, I suppose,

and a journey of these sites coming to fruition over time,

and not without precedent in its history.

The site itself, again, I've been round it and round it

again today a number of times this morning,

just again, just really, really trying to make sure

that I can get these points across.

But as has been pointed out variously,

the entire kind of edge condition of the site

and up to the main parts of the building

as it looks onto Brook Lane.

It's incredibly inward -looking edge condition,

a lot of inactivity, lacks of openings, storey height,

singles and double height storey heights,

with little to no penetration whatsoever.

And certainly in terms of how the building and the site

itself relate to this idea of permeability

and the movement of people through the site,

It's kind of every hurdle in its way

in order to be able to accommodate that.

And obviously, that's a critical part

of what we're trying to do here is

to create those critical connexions into the site.

If you look along the edge where the green stops on this image,

and you can see that line of graffiti,

that is the edge condition of the wall.

And that creates, and I'll show you later,

that creates a less than half a metre pavement width

to a street, which for those of you who do live here,

you can see there's obviously a continuous movement

of vehicles in a single direction going east

to west along that edge.

So it's a pretty inhospitable place

with all of the other sorts of things

which are happening in Allen Gardens,

even though, as we know, Allen Gardens

is an asset to this locality.

So what we're trying to do here is to harness the potential

to really improve the permeability into the site,

bringing life and animation, and also giving

some sort of backdrop to Allen Gardens, which

is an extremely large space, but actually

has a sort of potentially kind of an ill definition

on its edges.

Again, these are photographs.

And if you just sort of cast your eye,

you can see all the way along the western, sort

of the northern, and the kind of eastern boundaries

that actually there is almost little

to no penetration or activity on the edge of the site.

And actually, I think what we're doing,

and by virtue, again, of the master plan images

that we've shown already, actually what we're doing

is exponentially adding interest and vitality

and relationships between the site, internal programmes,

in the city, which is a bereft.

So in terms of how we started, again,

trying to kind of get underneath the skin

and underneath the bonnet of what makes this area so

special to all of us, this is a sort of sequence of models

and maquettes, which are kind of abstract in some sense.

But what they're trying to do is to get a sense of the idea

that there are a sequence of relatively unique threshold

conditions which exist between streets and the kind of yard

spaces, this idea of kind of undercrofts and small bridges

and sort of different ranges of shop fronts and so forth,

and which, again, we've been trying to sort of bring

all of that in into the design, particularly

of the ground floors.

But also this idea of the bridges

being a critical part of our scheme.

And if we look at the wider neighbourhood,

these are kind of themes which are evident in our approach.

Whether or not you kind of agree with them,

that is exactly what we've been trying to do.

So this idea of a juxtaposition of scale,

And this idea of shapes which are sort of stacked on

from one another, and the buildings are evidently doing

that.

This idea of this sort of industrial kind

of infrastructure as a kind of backdrop,

which is something that we obviously

bring through in a very straightforward way

with the bridges.

Thresholds and passages being a critical thing here.

So these are not large open spaces,

but actually thresholds and routes

through which you pass, which is evidently

a characteristic of the area.

This idea of an animated skyline.

And then the notion of sort of bookcase or even sort of,

you know, this idea of party walls and a rhythm of street,

which we've echoed in all of the moves

that we're making in the scheme.

So as you can see in the models behind you,

which you can spend some time later,

again, it's this reinterpretation.

And I guess, you know, what we're trying to do,

obviously, is to build a contemporary building,

a kind of contemporary, forward -looking, 100 -year,

durable, flexible, sustainable building, but at the same time,

trying to kind of bring in where we need to

and where we think it's appropriate to do so,

that kind of reading of the locality,

hence the reason why we sustain this idea that we're

approaching this from a heritage and site -specific backdrop.

And as I say, it's been iterative.

We've gone through multiple processes in multiple media.

So again, it's an idea of the sketch in the hand,

a scale of model at varying scales, site photographs,

maquettes, and so forth.

And it kind of boils down in some ways to a diagram of this nature.

And again, Arup are the engineers on this.

So they've been supporting as an Arup are world renowned as in the field of engineering,

both in terms of structure, transport, heat, sustainability and so forth.

And we were working with them in terms of the massing strategy for block three based

on an idea of achieving a passive system.

And by passive, we mean it's to kind of dial down the engineering

and to use really simple cross ventilation to ventilate the space.

And in order to do that, you have to basically play with the kind of overall configuration.

So you'll see here that the buildings start in a relatively sort of banal way.

Again, Mr. Yeoman was suggesting the same, so finding the plot and an extrusion.

And then it's on a journey, going through the logistical understanding of what it means

to deliver a best -in -class workplace which can go from the opportunity to house many,

many different businesses.

We think over 20 different local businesses could be deployed and occupy the space at

the same time, up to it being a HQ.

Again, it's that entire sort of flexibility of use.

It's about choosing the right frame, the right setbacks, the right layouts, getting those

configurations to work.

And we've landed on that bottom right image, which is a sort of primary two blocks interfacing

with multiple step backs, which the model at the back

will demonstrate.

The core sitting in the middle of the three blocks.

And therefore, one core, effectively with one core,

you dial down the carbon investment,

because actually you're not building too many cores

and too many lists.

So again, that was a very critical move.

And then this tethered left -hand block

onto Spittles Street, which is articulated

by the sawtooth profile.

OK, different versions of that, modelled by hand.

all over again trying to understand the kind of the material and expression of that building.

So that's the kind of the macro idea.

Then as we get down into the buildings again using our reflection and mapping of site context

to bring those readings back into the buildings as well as an overall idea of durable buildings

of a sort of masonry materiality.

It's about how do we bring this finer architectural details down to ground floor.

And again, all of our kind of conditioning

is all based on a kind of really intrinsic shared understanding

of what the DNA of this site looks like.

So just on this one, for example, the moves

that we've been making, you can see those white lines

and the arrows.

It's trying to work out how we would

turn the corner on the corner block with the sight

lines of existing buildings.

So it's putting those things through,

getting the right proportions of glazing,

understanding how buildings sit at the ground floor,

creating just enough brickwork facing to enable that sort of street life to sort of lean in against it which again

Lots of clients would tell you to work out how to prevent that you know

We're doing the opposite here

Which is to celebrate the fact that this part of East London is very much a kind of active street facing

creative space

On to the ground floor we talked already about the sort of loading Bay again

The loading Bay becomes a kind of key facilitator for the entire site

It means that by placing the loading bay in a place where there's already a threshold for vehicle access

It allows for a much softer less carbon intensive means to distribute sort of packaging and and elements through the site

So we've talked about walking and cycling and so forth

So again, if I I should went to my cursor because you won't be able to see it

So on the right hand side block on Spital field and Buxton Street

You can see that kind of red portion, which

is a cafe at the entrance from Allen Gardens

into Coopridge Passage.

And at the southern end into block A,

you can see another cafe.

So I guess you get two cafes, which effectively

signal the front end or the two entrances into the space.

You have a kind of an administrator,

sort of small space on that little triangular space,

and opportunities also to look into that loading bay.

So again, we're not sort of hiding it,

but we're actually expressing it as part of a route finding

thing through.

Again, it's not a particularly long passage.

And then above, obviously, we have a kind

of dancing configuration of bridges,

all of which would have people backwards and forwards.

So again, a highly animated space.

And then on the main space, you can see, again,

a range of different uses.

So again, we know how to design offices

and offices for the future.

So this isn't a kind of turnstile security in

and out sort of faceless thing.

This is about creating a rich tapestry of activities

at ground floor, retail, food and beverage,

a cinema, community spaces, and so forth.

So again, it becomes a rich celebration

of potential opportunities for people to use.

Again, a diagram really just to demonstrate how

that building can break down.

So again, this is a typical floor.

We can get upwards of six different businesses

to occupy one floor.

And if we're over many floors, you

can see how many businesses could occupy that space.

Back to the point you're making about the Truman Brewery,

that this gives an opportunity for businesses to basically

flow and mature over time through this space,

which would, again, allow for that flexible and durable

space.

I've talked a bit about Cooper's Pack,

but again, just talk about it again.

It's a really unique part of the site.

We think it's reflective of how many of these passages

and cuts and devices act within the master plan

and actually on the main site itself.

So again, it becomes a quintessential London or East

London space.

So you can see the view from Allen Gardens,

the really clear cut.

Therefore, it's an acknowledgment

of something is happening.

Again, this idea of discovery you walk underneath

The the bridges which would be active with people flowing backwards and falls between the two blocks

opportunities that sort of different scales and heights for people to stare into

the left -hand side of the building block 3b and into the loading bay and then the views on into

Cooper yard

Worth saying again Buxton Street in terms of its idea of generosity

Again, I think at its best. It's about half -metered

curb, and we're pulling the building back a further four

metres.

So that's a nine -fold increase in terms

of the width of the space.

And that's before you even put any windows on to kind of extend

the depth of potential for richness into that space.

And it's about three times the width

of the north side of Buxton Street onto Allen Gardens.

Again, ample generosity sort of gifted back

into that kind of public realm.

We talked a little bit about how the buildings are

sort of celebrating and bracing those critical parts

of the heritage.

This isn't a listed part of the site,

but actually this idea of just curving the building around

and acknowledging that and embracing

that and a kind of creative interface in those parts.

Again, where we think there are opportunities to sort of press

into the building, pull the building back,

set the building in, change the materiality and the glazing

lines to create kind of visual interest, a real cluster

of different buildings.

Obviously setting the whole building down

to the west -hand side so that it pulls back from the chimney,

giving the main chimney the primary focus in terms

of its impact on the site.

Again, modelled that through.

Talking about art, I think someone's proof,

they talked about it being a lazy move.

Actually, it's not a lazy move.

It's a really specific part of what

we've been trying to do here, which

is to create ample space of that kind of patina

to emerge over time, not in a cliched way or a banal way,

but something which can be curated by the Truman estate

where it needs to be, and something a little bit more

organic, and again, just embracing that,

acknowledging that that's a likely thing

to happen over time.

The character of the architecture, lintels, bricks,

piers, and so forth, and openings, and those rhythms

come from a reading of the site, but not just

in a mimicry of Georgian buildings,

but wherever we could find them, right over

to the right -hand side in the main brewery site,

where there are photographs of the imprint of barrels

in the tar, and then using that as a kind of motif

and generating the idea of the arches in the lintels,

Bringing that detailing through into Buxton Street. The building itself is a hybrid

sophisticated

innovative construction of

Pre of in situ cast beams with timber inlaids

So again, we're really driving the energy expenditure the carbon expenditure right down as I say dialling down the operational carbon

It becomes a really extremely lean

Environmentally lean building. So again looking at the views before a hand over

The view's looking westward, I suppose.

You can see the city in the background

with Foster's building in the rear.

The Truman Building being, again,

the key point of focus here.

The generosity of the street,

if we push the buildings back, that 4 1 -1 -2 metres,

and now fully furnished with opportunities

for the internal spaces to bleed out onto that

and still encouraging a safe passage of people

to walk along that site.

You can see on the left -hand side

where we have those people on the upper level,

The building is stepping in multiple places

to get activation for terraces, for people, for biophilia,

and so forth.

This is a really critical space, certainly for us,

in the overall main site.

So this view, as you've come in from Allen Gardens

into Cooperage, the yard, the different buildings,

how they relate.

So it's like several buildings coming together.

Back to the notion of Publica speaking

about a range of different uses at the ground floor

to create that kind of crossover, that pollinization

of different functions and scales and people and time,

which makes spaces in London work so well.

And then the view back across the site.

So again, from the left, we've got that two, three -storey

element which binds into the Cooperage building,

gradually turning the corner with a small retail kiosk

on the bottom and corner.

The whole ground floor now having

been pushed back by that 4 and 1 -1 -2 metres now fully glazed.

And again, the transparency of the ground floor conditions,

as the route in to the passage between those two key buildings

on the left -hand side, articulating the upper levels

with openings and breaks, bringing that idea

of biophilia and foliage through.

And then on the kind of western side of the site,

just stopping and stepping the building down in various tiers

and expressing the kind of the position

and the importance of the chimney itself.

I shall hand over to Foliq.

Okay

Good afternoon

So I'm my name's Simon Henley and I'm gonna be talking about block J

Shall talk briefly about myself and our practise as I've been asked to

Then about the site design principles and design in detail

So I'm an architect and principal of Henley Hale Brown.

I combine practise with teaching, writing, and research.

I sit on a number of design review panels and quality review panels.

Design Southeast has a remit across a large chunk of Southeast England, but also Greenwich

and Islington.

And until last year when the kind of planning remit of the LLDC expired, I was also on that QRP

Which also covered our Hamlet's

I'm a trustee of docomomo and

For the last two years. I've been including this one chair of the RBA awards group. So responsible ultimately for the sterling shortlist

My fellow director Gavin Hale -Brown has also for a number of years been on the Tower Hamlets

DRP Design Review Panel.

As a practise, we've been going for 30 years.

We've been based in Shoreditch for the last 20.

And it's a general practise.

So we're making homes, offices, health gatlings, school buildings, and community projects.

And like the others, we've been adapting buildings as much as building new ones, learning from

adapting buildings and making new buildings that we think reflects that durability, robustness,

flexibility in good old buildings.

We won the Neve Brown Award for Affordable Housing in 2022, and we've been twice shortlisted

for the Sterling Prize in 2018 and 2022.

So it falls to us to make housing on Block J predominantly, and we have been working

in this part of London for at least 15 years making housing.

The project on the left is King's Present, which is council housing for Hackney, and

won the Mayor's Award at the New London Architecture Awards

in 2018.

The middle building is Taylor and Chateau

on the Frampton Estate, again in Hackney,

which was shortlisted for the New Brown Award in 2023.

And the right -hand building, which

has a very small photograph, is currently

a building under construction on Arnold Road, four tower

hamlets, 100 % of all the housing.

So the site.

Well, Mr. Yeoman and Mr. Morris have been talking a fair amount about the site.

So my focus will be on the immediate site around Block J. Hopefully you can see Block

J here.

We are on a kind of threshold in the city, really, I mean in the broadest sense between

obviously the conservation area to the west and immediately a fairly large area of council

and post -war housing from the second, third quarter of the 20th century.

It's a complex and eclectic neighbourhood.

Again, I guess the important thing just to bear in mind is immediately around Block J

there is a huge variety of scale and grain and height.

And I'm not sure whether you can read this.

And I'm not sure whether, are we going to share this so that people can, right.

So I won't go into the detail.

But suffice to say, block J with the red boundary is in a kind of complex,

much more complex setting than I think perhaps some of the criticisms lead you on to believe.

So yes, I mean, this is a simple plan of storey heights.

Of course, storey heights are not actual dimensional heights,

but they give you a pretty good indication of the huge variety.

And so, for example, the urban block that effectively Block J

is at the east end of, bounded by Woodseer Street,

going in clockwise, Spittle, Hanbury, and Brick Lane,

It's an oversimplification to describe it as a domestically scaled street block.

Whilst there are stretches of consistency, there are huge jumps of scale, grain and character,

both inside and outside the conservation area.

The existing building on the site, we've been talking about the fact that it's the result

It's the clearance of the site, it's the result of a bomb damage.

So as it is today, it is a series of industrial sheds serving the Banglatown, Cash and Carry,

which is obviously very important.

But as a physical presence in the city, it offers next to no active frontage, none on

Woodseer Street, Hamblee Street, a small amount on Spittles Street, and a blank facade as

It's like a blank boundary wall, particularly

on Woodsea Street.

And as the middle image shows, actually

there's quite substantial building immediately

to the south of that, which is 68 Hambridge Street, which

is Second Home's base.

So this idea of it being a kind of very coherent domestically

scaled urban block, as the map on the left hand side

described 1799, that is very definitely the case.

But even by 1875, that kind of order, the scale

starts to break down.

And then, of course, with the war, the Second World War,

of course, there is bomb damage.

But even in these black and white photographs,

the bottom left hand one is Woodseer Street

looking west to a building on the west side of Brick Lane.

And there are, in that image, huge changes in scale.

So we're looking at the on the left -hand side. We're looking at the south

predominantly the south elevation of woods history with the plane in the background and then of course on the right hand side again

We're looking downwards history

And what appears to be two -storey houses these days are predominantly?

Three storeys because of a man sard and normal windows, but particularly there is the jump in that one is

believe 28 woods history

which is a four -storey building and

and of commercial floor heights.

So this context, I mean, the scale of Woodsea Street

ranges between two and five storeys.

And the book ended at both Brick Lane End

and, before you get to Block J, 28 Woodsea Street,

substantially taller buildings than the kind

of the terrace in between.

Although interestingly, that photo collage,

obviously from real photographs taken at street level,

does not disclose the fact that there is a full storey

of occupied dorma windowed roof space.

Anyway, these other photographs give you an indication

of other aspects of Woodseer Street.

And at Hanbury Street, which is on the south side,

we're looking at the north side of Hambray Street.

So we're looking at the elevation that

forms part of our block, the block J side to the right.

And what is clear there is that much of that street

is dominated not, well, is not made up

of a fine grain of older terraced houses.

It's made up of, it's dominated by a larger

commercial building, larger floor -to -floor heights,

situation where the the kind of frequency of party walks doesn't exist it is a much more substantial building and then of course

the left -hand image

Shows second home, which is 68 Hambray Street, which is the building which is immediately south of block J's

site

And that is six storeys

We've obviously been talking about the qualities of the conservation area

And in some respects, these are a fairly rag -bag collection

of images in no way to play down the significance and beauty

of the conservation area.

But of course, it has these wonderful qualities,

both as kind of pristine buildings

that one might expect to see on Fournier Street and Wilkes

Street, but also very much kind of used, tough, and abused,

in a way, buildings on other streets.

But it's a fantastic heritage of beautiful windows,

those beautiful brick buildings, shopfronts, very

kind of articulated front doors, and these qualities of things

which we are mindful of.

I think one of the things that really struck us about this

neighbourhood was the frequency of these passageways that

lead into blocks, that lead to kind of yards and mews

and so on.

So these are a series of photographs

and these are a series of drawings

that we made from those two.

As it became, I mean, often the thing about designing buildings is, on one level, there

are problems you have to solve and there are ideas you bring to the building.

But one of the things that became immediately evident is that these were things of beauty

and they were things that made the urban structure work because of the way they actually, you

can get into the depth of the block and you'll see how that became very useful and critical

to the design of Block J.

So, some design principles from top to bottom.

We're addressing three quite distinct streets.

Woodsea Street is unlike Hanbury Street.

Woodsea Street and Hanbury Street are unlike Spittles Street.

They deserve a different response.

We are mending and repairing the urban block,

and something which in a way could sort of go

unnoticed from the public realm

is we're reinstating the inner courtyard structure

of the block.

It is a lot of the character or the structure of the building

from inside out which will make it a good place to live,

a great place to work, and a good neighbour.

So if I go from top left to bottom left,

I'll go left to right and down.

So we are repairing the urban block.

But we're not doing that as a kind of generic block.

Actually, we started to think about how,

as I mentioned, these buildings can and should,

or should and can respond to their respective frontages,

to their respective streets.

And so that second one is doing two things.

It's starting to give the potential for these buildings

to have personality because they can start

to be read as three footprints.

But also in so doing we start to open up the corners

and give ourselves a little bit more space between

But you know the buildings north and south of the plot on Woodside Street and on Hanbury Street. I

mentioned the yards that one of the things that we'll talk about more is this thing about how you kind of

Make the building work from inside out and so this idea of creating permeability and movement

becomes key to how the plan works,

how residents find their front door,

and also how we maximise active frontage.

Then we talk about the distribution of uses,

and as I'll explain a bit more extensively,

we started off this idea of a residential scheme

with activity on the ground floor.

But when you look at the width of the woods history,

it makes sense for that, it's challenging sense to make that into residential space.

But I say that sounds like we're solving a problem.

On one level we are solving a problem because the others have talked about it inevitably

design is a contingent process.

You can't necessarily preconceive exactly how you're going to solve problems you face.

There's also a more kind of, a kind of a positive, let's say, constructive approach which is

not about problem solving.

It's about creating a mixed and balanced and diverse,

in a way, a little bit of city and microcosm.

So in the same way these buildings

face three different streets, it's

not a kind of monoculture of homes.

It's a mixture of a place to work and a place to shop

and a place to live.

And the last piece in the puzzle is having made that connexion

through this yard that we can minimise

the amount of basement by creating a podium, a garden,

and doing a lot of the kind of servicing

and so on underneath that.

So in 3D, what we're doing is we're

extending the street pattern, the street frontages.

We're completing the block, going from left to right.

And we're adding height on Spital Street

to optimise the amount of housing.

We then pull in the ends in terms of proximity, daylight,

sunlight, shadowing, those kind of questions.

And then as I'll talk about later,

there's also a further kind of erosion

of the north end of the Spital building, which

is both a practical response, but it's also

an architectural idea.

And in this kind of adjustment that

goes on for practical reasons.

So we end up basically with a five -storey building

on Woods history, a seven -storey building on Spittles Street,

and a four -storey building on Hambray Street.

And those proximities and scales obviously

have all sorts of practical advantages,

but they also start to give the potential for these buildings

to have their own character.

These two visualisations or three dimensional drawings are useful.

The left hand one, we're on Hambridge Street.

We're on the south side of Hambridge Street looking east.

And the right hand one, we're on Woodsy Street on the north side of the street,

again looking east.

And I mean, the important thing obviously,

and obviously much of the discussion about Block J

is to do with the height of the Spital Street building.

These views illustrate what we sought to do,

which is to be careful about what

could be seen within the conservation area

and how much we could mitigate the scale.

So this is what these views hopefully show.

If I move on into the design in detail, sorry if there's any repetition

But I'll just describe the ground floor plan from clockwise from the top from Woodside Street round

both in terms of use but also something about kind of

Logic, so we have retail space on Woodside Street. We have the reprovision of the Bangalow town

Cash -carry it

north east and south

Effectively on all three streets, but with the primary entrance on Hanbury Street

There's a small community gallery on Hanbury Street, and then if I may just point

Residential entrances and one of the criticisms has been perhaps here are these residential entrances hard to find I would dispute that very much

They're very clear by virtue of the fact that you are walking

Into a garden into a courtyard

giving access from both Hamby Street and Woodson Street at a point where the building steps back to reveal those entrances, not just from north and south but also from east.

By doing this we get the entrance to the residential within the block. We get all the things which in a sense unpick a good building these days.

the quantity of mechanical plant, cycle storage, blue badge

parking, waste storage, all these things normally

erode the quantity of active frontage.

But by creating that central entrance

and by creating the podium, we're

able to, in a sense, bury all that within the plan

to really optimise the amount of active frontage

all the way around.

So, you know, directly inspired by the grain of this neighbourhood, this idea that when

you go home, it's in a way a sort of decompression from the intensity of the city to the kind

of harbour of home.

And as this drawing attests, one of the kind of often

disappointments of urban block housing

is you enter the building from the street.

You may use the stairs.

You may use the lift.

But you go up the building.

You find your flat.

And you look out at the garden.

And you don't feel any sense of ownership.

You don't feel any sense of that being yours feel comfortable about it you feel overlooked

But by making the entrance from the lower level of what is a two -storey courtyard

People are using the space every day coming and going

parking their bicycles

putting the rubbish in there and that

step to using the garden whether it's

adults or children

It seems a very natural progression

This is an image of the gallery on Hanbury Street, which obviously offers a very visible

place for local artists.

And this is typical, sorry, well yes, this is the first floor, but in many respects it's

typical of the building that we have office space to the north, we have housing both to

the east and the south.

And all of those share the prospect of that communal garden.

And you can see that hopefully you can tell from this that the courtyard is essentially a two -level space

surrounded by those uses. And I mentioned earlier this thing about

there's a double, there's two reasons why there's a mix of uses. There's this

I suppose, you know, there's a

an ambition for there to be a mix of uses,

but there is also a logic that if you're trying to optimise

the housing, you're also trying to optimise

the dimensions of the courtyard in terms of overlooking.

And with the proximity of 25 Woodsea Street,

just seven metres from the building line

on the south side of Woodsea Street,

it made sense for that to become office space

to protect the dimensions of that courtyard.

Otherwise, one would have been pulling

the northern building south a long way and you would sort of lose the

Either lose the courtyard or lose the quality of the courtyard

so that that

Just sums up the that back that quality of a you've got the office on the left

you've got housing looking east at the end and on the right on the south side a

World in microcosm a city in microcosm. I

Just got a few more slides just to go through as it were the

The building from the perimeter so here we're looking down, hambridge street and what you can see

Hammy, street building is is a modestly scale building four storeys

Sharing many of the characteristics of the neighbourhood a brick building with robust details of precast sills lintels

and a stronger shot front of precast

It not being possible to use timber because of the fire regulations in facade construction

But seeking to emulate some of the qualities of those historic wooden shop runs

And as we move we're here we are still on what history but spittle Street on the right and

And you can see the spittle building

Lozas to the onto Hanbury Street both

creating shade for the flats within

amenity in a way

It's two contrasting conditions are possible with those

Terraces or loaves on the south side is both to be kind of part of the city

But also to be apart from the city so a lot of lots of the design this building

We're talking about its impact and its qualities externally, but also mindful that these are homes

For people and and the quality of life has much to do with daylight

Ventilation, but also a life lived outside and and I think as mr. Morris said earlier

There are huge complexities in the regulation now of of homes and the kind of conflicting requirements of

Ventilation temperature control acoustics all sorts of things like that

And this building is starting to look towards the spittle estate

And starting to respond in scale and grain of the facade

And here we are looking at the Bangalow Town entrance,

leisure above, looking up Spital Street.

And as we turn the corner to the north to go up Woodsea Street,

we have, and at one point I wanted

to call this a cat's -eye -roof,

but it is not technically a cat's -eye -roof.

I mentioned earlier we are solving practical problems

in making this step, but it could have been a very banal,

orthogonal box of a step.

But this draws, in formal terms, it draws, in a way,

on not just the heritage of the brewery and warehouses,

but on a broader British heritage.

James Richard's 1958 book, The Functional Tradition,

and celebrated the architecture of industrial buildings.

And it's something that we were interested in

in making that form.

Also, ideas of the arts and crafts,

I've mentioned the castle roof.

There's a kind of, the building is scaling down.

It's a gentle way in which the dormers and the scaling down

works.

It's a friendly gesture.

But also in detail, as the photographs

off the left -hand side, we're drawing on references,

in a sense, from the immediate context.

The curved, the stepped and curved gables

on the south side of Hanbury Street,

and the dormer windows, which, of course, proliferate

around various streets.

Brickwork, we obviously looked at.

I mean, the architecture is an architecture of brick,

casement windows, French windows, logeres, balconies,

contrasting and complimentary precast elements carefully in terms of grip blasted or sand

blasted to enable them to have a quality and there's materiality I think.

As the owner was talking about a lighter brick for that central building in a sense there's

a similar principle that the Woodsea Street building and the Hambridge Street building

A lighter brick in those tighter streets and the spitless tree building is a slightly darker brick

Which it can do because of the amount of light around it

So in summary

our objective or our

Responsibility has been to repair the urban block

Our ambition has been has been to make three buildings that respond to the character of the streets that they face

to make them so they're robustly and richly detailed,

and as this image shows, in a sense,

to create, really importantly for the people

who will live and work there,

a tranquil and dignified communal courtyard.

Thank you.

Keep going.

Pass me some water.

So we're going to take you through the last two sites.

We've got Block A first?

Yeah?

OK.

So to finish off the presentation, really,

we've got the last two sites.

As you've now seen, the presentations

that we've given, the tripartite presentations,

have all been focused on the main site

within the kind of the main sort of brewery site.

And then the two sites to finish off were off to the west,

Block A along Grayville Street,

and then Ellie's Yard within Ellie's Yard.

So this is for the data centre.

And this is the current condition of the site.

So this is looking south north.

You can see, again, a building

which I think we mentioned earlier this morning,

I think in one of the presentations about this sort

Its dereliction was prior to the acquisition by the Truman

Estate, so it had been existing in that state

prior to it becoming part of the estate.

That's continued in that position up until now.

And obviously, what we're trying to do here

is to re -enliven this corner of the site

to bring some active use back to what

is a critical part of the infrastructure of the area.

It's a relatively expressive building,

and its brutality, I suppose.

And over time, it's been adorned and leaned into by the street

that it's in.

And we've talked a lot, I think.

And I think members of the audience, obviously,

will obviously be very familiar with how

the building is a sort of backland site in this sort

of eddy, sort of encourages a certain type of use

at that street level, which we're mindful of.

You can see also, just in the bottom part of the image

where the cars are, there's a sort of setback.

I think it's, correct me if I'm wrong,

but I think it's about six metres from curb edge

to the building proper.

And that's a sort of piece of wasteland, which

is full of all sorts of things.

It's obviously a great platform on which artists can use

to sort of spray the building.

But it's a kind of lack of contribution

both in terms of its function, its use, its appearance.

You know, cars sort of lingering there.

And then if you see further down the street,

You can see the fencing, which sort of continues a more

normal line of building.

But obviously, what all it's doing

is effective creating a further kind

of locked piece of wasteland with very little contribution

to that setting.

As we say, it sits to the kind of western edge

of block B, which is obviously also a data centre.

It's as a relationship at the moment,

albeit it's a disconnected relationship to Ellie's yard.

You can see on the map the little blue sort of thing which links across.

That's the bridge which flies over the road and connects the two sites together.

And again, it's also worth noting just how the building is landing within its footprint.

It's a sort of strange building which sits at sort of oddness and juxtaposition to its

surrounding context and its edge conditions, which is sort of interesting.

Again the buildings themselves, I think these photographs make the site look much better

than I think it is.

Obviously some of the sort side streets Calvin Street is a beautiful street Corbett's place obviously has some some beautiful elements

But you know the length of Greg will Street at the moment is is less than

You know that it should be and obviously over time

Continuing its sort of decay. I suppose we've had it forensically analysed again

Just take it for and we can be perhaps be interrogated that through through some Q &A further down in the week

but definitely had some time to look at the building

to explore its potential for retention

in the context of the brief or a data centre.

And we concluded with a forensic analysis

that that wasn't possible.

There's opportunities here, I think, to reuse some

of the materiality in some way.

And it's something that we can explore further down

the line in terms of making panels or so forth out

of the reclaimed materials.

But in effect, it's a demolition project with a new build.

Also worth just noting that over time, this idea

of how art and creativity has sort of adorned itself

over the site.

So this is a timeline over, say, 10 years, how that's built up.

And also worth noting that as you kind of work

your way around the site and spend any time just observing

this in it by itself, the street pattern, the windows,

how the ground floors work, it's a changing feast.

And again, so I went around again this morning.

Even the streets which have a supportive sort of activity,

You know, it's sort of broken, it's not consistent, there's not a lot of street life and activity,

I guess, from some of the other streets, some of the residential streets as well, into those

surrounding streets, which is worth noting.

And again, this idea of the fenestration, the windows, the materials are all changing.

What we've tried to do over the course of the design process for this building is to

pull a lot of that together, to put onto the site something which is clearly mannered and

responsive to the site context and the massing,

mindful of its setting and its scale,

trying to sort of bring that down into a legible format,

bring it right down to the street,

using materials which are evident in the context

and to build something which has, by its own means,

a sort of sculptural response to those constraints, which

are effectively driven by these sort of five or so core

tenets, this idea of referencing existing buildings,

the idea of the rhythm of the streets on its context,

The potential for art to lean into this over time obviously digital infrastructure is a critical part of this of a national

Significance critical significance and the potential as we're moving the building around and with again

It's kind of building a kind of optimal data centre of the right type in the right location to serve the right economy

Working with arup who are kind of you know experts globally and delivering

You know absolutely kind of groundbreaking data centres working with them in order to create

opportunities for terraces and decks and so forth

that we can adorn with biophilia.

We have obviously continuously with all of the projects,

and this is a repeated image really, just trying to pull

in that kind of contextual referencing.

How do we pull those observations

into the kind of architecture?

Thinking about that historic narrative,

bringing those sort of points into the building.

So again, all of these buildings have

a kind of two or three storey sort of base

with the roofs above.

So we're thinking about window proportions,

depth of detail, lintels, for example, the ground floor,

piers, and so forth, being kind of key motifs for us

to building to that narrative.

Again, building on that existing narrative

and then sort of bringing to ground something new.

So in terms of the massing strategy,

it has gone on a journey.

So again, there are some models over there.

I'm going to show you a few sketches as well.

But again, this has gone through many, many, many iterations

to land in the right place to kind of drive those two,

I guess, tenets in some ways.

is the idea for optimised data usage

and an idea for an optimised site cognizant of its place

making responsibility.

So again, it's a sort of extruded site.

It's about pushing the building in, stepping the building back,

creating opportunities, terracing the building down.

All of that requires engineering.

It requires buildability.

It's not an easy thing to do.

So these things have all been carefully worked

through lots of iterations to explore that.

Thinking about how that architecture is landing,

a heavy ground floor, a brick base that

can soak up the daily, and the weekly, and the monthly,

and the yearly experience of living in this part of London.

And then an idea of a lighter top, a lighter top,

which is more elegant, finer, lighter, again,

with these motifs which are pulling in some

of that contextual richness.

It's worth noting, again, in terms of the relationship

to Jack's place, we're broadly speaking

around the same sort of idea.

If I took the plant off then in terms of its top floor proper, it will be lower than that building again

It's a four -storey building

So the floor plates are slightly larger because of the data use relative to some of the other buildings around but it's a four -storey building

with the plants at the upper level

ground floor is all of the kind of the

Operational and the logistics part of the operation and then the floors above so it's the first second and third floor

Effectively aware. We've got that kind of really efficient

data usage

Again, you can see the kind of optimised data usage at sort of ground level.

You can see the security guard and the entrance at the centre of the site, the loading bay

off to the right, and then we're pushing all of that kind of plant and machinery into the

depth of the plan, and then we have the data halls on the upper levels.

And again, three storeys of this with the building gradually stepping backwards.

In terms of the grey eagle facade, again, thinking just about the base, thinking about

the – where the – I guess the internal programme is sort of pushing against how you

might express a rhythm, a proportion, an opening,

and so forth.

So again, that's gone on a journey,

a kind of a mapping exercise of the surrounding streets,

trying to graft on that kind of rhythm, that scale,

those proportions into the motifs in the architecture,

which lands like this.

And again, thinking about that narrative about the base

being about people, interaction, that kind of heritage,

and then a lighter industrial top.

That industrial top being, again,

of a lighter palette of fine material, the middle image

there on the top is our scheme on Curtain Road, which is,

again, it's a two or three storey Georgian retained building

with a light top on.

Again, it's following the similar motifs of that.

I think that's been a very successful addition

to that streetscape.

Again, that material palette, that contrast of that base,

that heritage base binding into the streets,

and then the upper level industrial riffing off

many of the buildings in the context.

And using that opportunity to bring in some joy,

some references, so again, back to Christchurch.

And again, I say that with the utmost of respect,

but just trying to find some of those moments

where this wider contextual heritage can

be brought into the building and sort of play back.

Again, the terraces are stepping back in different ways

from the two streets.

Again, it's doing very different things

in response to its context.

This is the ground floor, the entrance.

So you can see the entrance where the lady's standing.

That's the route through.

And then you can see the double bay

on the right -hand side, which would be a concierge space.

These upper levels, that step back,

are changing rhythms.

So again, it's articulated in many different ways.

It's not a standard system.

It's something which has a fineness to it.

Again, consider detailing proportions.

On Calvin Street, you can see that the building actually

follows that shoulder line of the main street.

And all of the work is pushed further back to the south,

where the building steps back, those upper two storeys.

So again, you can see here the sort bottom ledge is where you there's an opportunity to sort of plant and bring some

biophilia and then pushing that building back the buildings being

Again referencing the two edges the Gregor Street and Calvin Street having a different rhythm and a different proportion

Approach in terms of its composition and then the building looking north

So again, you can see the majority of the floor plates on the data being in that sort of metal box

Again on the corner, you can see it sort of cuts back as well an opportunity to plant

in that corner as well, stepping back onto that base plinth,

which again binds it into the street,

and then sewing looking back along Calvin Street.

And then finally, if you've got stamina,

we'll go straight into Ellie's.

So Ellie's yard, again, it's for a workspace.

It's for a brick lane, Truman Brewery,

workplace with a rich mixture of ground floor uses.

So again, these are all about sort of leaning into this idea

that office buildings need to be more than just efficient floor

plates.

So as you can see here, just in the foreground,

you've got this sort of collection

of temporary buildings, which offer a kind of food

and beverage sort of landscape.

The space itself that we now call the yard is,

in this image, is full of service trucks and deliveries

and cars parked.

So effectively, it has a kind of pattern

of use during the day.

So this morning, for example, when

went to go through, the whole thing was cordoned off,

and you couldn't actually get through it

because they were taking deliveries.

So again, it's useful to know that it isn't a public space.

It's a working yard, very much a kind of changing pattern

from the time of day and the time of year.

You can see Christchurch in the background.

And again, there's something quite interesting

about along Wilkes Street and its elevation

and how it kind of relates back to the yard itself,

which we've been sort of playfully engaging with.

Block T with the Gucci art on, again,

And that's a canvas for changing art and advertising.

Jack's place in the background, I

think it's a seven or eight storey warehouse building.

And then off to the left, you would see Block F,

which is the main Truman Brewery building, which is demonstrated

by the large thing here.

It's worth noting that actually we

think about activity in this space,

but actually bar the Gucci building, so the ground floor,

which is the juice bar, a series of temporary buildings,

which aren't 24 -7.

The actual edge of the main building, effectively,

there's a series of step -ups, but there's little

pass through, and lots of people are passing through the street,

which is an extension of Wilkes Street,

this sort of north -south route which goes through the site.

You can also see Draywalk.

I think historically there was a link there.

But you can see on the southern end of the data centre,

Number five, there's a sort of an extension which is a staircase and plant and so forth

So again as you walk up Draywalk, the thing you see is effectively a back -of -house and it's a service and utilities elements

Again the building is context again quite robust and and raw

architecture

But again, lots of other things that you've seen this slide already lots of other things around which I think sort of give us it

an opportunity to draw in that.

Again, think about the yard itself.

Just noting, if I stand up, we can

see all of the right -hand side of the yard back to block B.

It's full of these sort of kiosks and bins

and staircases and whatever.

You've got along the edge on the top of this image

where those blue and red things are.

You've got bins and storage and so forth.

So effectively, you could argue that perhaps 40 % to 50 %

of the yard already in that edge isn't a space

that you can gradually flow into freely.

It's a landscape, a temporary village.

And then along the top end, as it runs back down

to the Gucci facade, again, we've got raised decking.

So actually, the yard isn't an open space in its true space.

It's actually a landscape of different levels

and different uses.

And then we've got the route through.

So we've got Hanbury Street access on the left -hand side

there.

You can see here also that because we've got a wall

On the western end actually hems in but the buildings of block a and grey will Street do sort of luminous backdrop

So you sort of already have a kind of layered back enclosure to that space visually. So again, that's it sort of modelled

And I'm not going to go into an indeed because it literally bore everybody

But I think what we try to do is to go on this, you know

If I flick backwards and forwards, this is all about us exploring and reviewing and spending a lot of time on the site

looking at how the yard is used, not just on one day,

but many days, weekends, evenings, in the rain,

in the sun, to try to build up a picture of where a building

could most likely be placed and what would have to take place

in the ground floor in order for it to maintain and secure

the free use of a yard and the size of yard that would be.

So if you know, back in the 80s, there

was an almost full occupation of the building by substantial,

of the site by a substantial building.

We think that there might be two previous planning

applications, both permitted for one to one and a half storey

buildings, which would effectively, again,

create that L -shape on the site where currently all

of that back of house facilities are.

You can see in the middle, on the right middle,

that you've got this existing assemblage of different things.

And what we're trying to do is to clean all that up,

put it all underneath the ground floor of the building,

create a space where this kiosk world runs

through, and again, it's a well -trodden programme

across the entire Truman estate, where

you've got this incredible series of spaces

where people occupy.

And it's this flowing trade and creative trade.

So again, that's what we're trying to do with the dark green.

And then it creates this much more open, framed piece

of public realm with links back into Grey Eagle,

which I'll speak about in a moment.

So again, you can see here the open without the building

and where the building sits now, and about how

we're sort of scooping all that in.

And effectively, it maintains the same amount of space

which could be adequately used by a range of users.

So again, we're looking at around the same distribution

of accessible space, which could be used by the same trades

and people.

On the right -hand side here, you can see that 278 square metres

of that ring, which is the same, is now

covered by that dotted wedge.

And then in terms of back -of -house,

we're able to minimise it slightly

and make it a little bit more efficient.

So again, that gives back more of a functional space

within the yard itself, which lands like that.

And again, the key thing to note here

is that we think that this provides a range of all year

round spaces for this use that's currently there,

be it market traders, market stalls, food and beverage,

and so forth, which doesn't at the moment.

Again, using these precedents which are proliferated all

through London.

Again, not just thinking about retail,

but the potential for that space, which

is a new space on the ground floor,

this double -height space, can be more than just trade.

It's an opportunity for market stalls,

for events, for presentations.

Hide out in the same way that many of the internal key spaces

in the brewery itself have that kind of flowing trend

and flowing programme of different events.

And again, that's exactly what we're trying to do here.

The massing is sculpted.

Absolutely, these moves are sculptural moves

to kind of push the building back, create generosity.

The idea of a chamfer is a kind of historic move in the area.

We're using that as a means of creating visual generosity,

as you move your way around the site.

The step backs, again, are intentional to lower

the building.

The building doesn't present a 30 metre high building

onto Grey Eagle.

Actually, it's pulled back at the top.

So I think it's actually only a ground plus four storeys

on that edge.

Again, really trying hard to be mindful of its setting.

Again, we've tried lots of different variations of that

in terms of its materiality.

Again, the models are over there looking

at horizontal vertical expression,

projecting balconies, loggias, and so on and so forth.

and then trying to find a way over time

to use the moves to generate a much better improved

internal use.

So again, it's like using a projecting balcony

on the southern side creates natural solar shading.

It creates opportunities for biofilia.

And it creates a space that people can step out to and look

down into the yard and create that kind of activation up

over many levels, which is why we're doing it.

And on the right -hand side, flattening the facade,

going for a vertical expression so it's dealing with sunlight

in a different way.

And as you can see, Jack's Place is a seven -storey,

Block C is an eight -storey, we're a sort of six, seven storeys.

So again, it's within a region of building forms and shapes

which are not dissimilar to themselves.

It's worth also noting through the consultation process

that we amended the ground floor facing onto Wilk Street.

So you can see there's, I think it's a 25 -square metre kiosk

on the left -hand side and around a 30 -metre kind of retail

stroke F &B space on the left -hand side.

And then where the man is, there's another space there.

Then we have a ramp that allows full access, integrated access

for everyone.

A step up into that space, still trying

to make sure that the yard doesn't just bleed out

into the streets, but actually still

has a definition of an edge.

So it's definitely a secondary route in.

Hanbury and Dray are still the main ones,

but it allows for that kind of connectivity.

And then in terms of active frontage,

we've also got the first, the second, the third,

and the fourth, projecting balconies.

We've got Juliet balconies and balconies

which are facing into Ellie's yard,

all looking down into Grey Eagle.

So in terms of animation and activation,

again, we think there's an exponential improvement

on what's there at the moment.

I've talked a little bit about the reasoning

behind the change, and it's quite subtle.

That horizontal for the south and then the eastern edge,

dealing with some conditions on a vertical stratification.

But those two conditions pick up on different conditions.

So again, it's really trying to bind those moves

and using the architectural expression which

comes from the DNA of the site.

So not brand new, but something which in some ways

you'd look back on the plan.

You'd also look at the architecture

and think these buildings have been there

for the length of time that the other buildings have.

I mentioned the church, again, just

trying to pull some of that connectivity

and that kind of language through.

And again, I'm skimming it really, really lightly.

And I'm aware that this is sort of almost like a trip up.

But just, again, just an opportunity here.

So the chamfer, the idea of the disc and the potential

for that to be art, just looking back at Hawksmoor

is as a gesture we've looked at.

And we've really thought about that,

the potential compositional impact of this sort

of chamfered end, and really thinking

about kind of a modern day, our modern day interpretation

of what Hawksmoor was trying to do,

about the kind of expression of his architecture

and so forth, bringing that materiality through,

thinking really, really carefully now,

way ahead of its time in terms of when it would be delivered

about the material palette and baking that

into the presentation and the submission.

And then to finish off the key view.

So again, you're going to be looking along Draywalk.

Again, you can see the right -hand side, block B,

which is the existing data centre.

The building's obviously stepping up,

storey and a half with these office spaces.

But that's set back.

You can see, again, a regular position

of vertical express piers.

The ground floor, which is this entrance

into the main entrance space of the core.

So again, you're linking the roots through and using

that historic line as a kind of key entrance way.

Looking back towards Hawksmoor, I guess, looking south, again,

you can see, again, a really strong plinth.

Open that up, a real double -height space.

It has a mezzanine for affordable workspace

in that lower space and again, this kind

of changing programme of uses.

The vertical stratification of these piers

to deal with not only proportions,

but also the environmental impact.

You can see the little notch it's taken out

on the far end of the building, but also

as it dovetails back to Block B.

Then looking back on Telly's yard,

these three large terraces, biophilic, full of people,

doors opening, people spilling out,

that kind of engagement and interaction back onto the yard.

The yard then cleaned out of all that paraphernalia

and actually set aside for proper functioning

social and cultural activity.

The building itself being a kind of backdrop to that so we can flow those route uses through into that space

You can see the the retail space on the corner and then the route through

Integrate Eagle you can see the opening there again, which is again

It's intended to be a sort of secondary supportive rather than a primary route finder in again that view in

Abundant spaces the affordable workspace up on the mezzanine and I think that's the last view for today

Two minutes. Mr Harris said it would be between an hour and a half and two.

It's an hour and 45 so hopefully that's okay. Thank you very much for your

patience. Hopefully you'll see that people have different opinions but

hopefully one of the criticisms is it is not poor design, it's not ill -considered

design. Hopefully there's been a huge amount of work by very eminent people on

it and that concludes our presentation.

Webcast Finished - 1:54:46

Thank you.

Yeah, there's a lot to take in there, so it's probably as well that we're finishing

for the day now.

Tomorrow morning, we're starting with you, Miss Curtis, aren't we, and Mr. Burrell?

Yes, starting with Mr. Burrell, yes.

Is there anything to be gained by starting a little earlier, or does 10 o 'clock suit

everyone better?

Okay, on?

I'm cool.

10 o 'clock.

So, okay, we'll resume then unless anyone has anything else they want to raise this

afternoon.

Just on that, there was a yawn and a groan from the audience.

Fair enough, it's been a long day.

Can we keep the day's starting time under review

as we go on though, sir?

So there may be good reason to start a bit earlier sometime.

Not everybody has the lecture starting at 10 o 'clock.

I will, I am going to keep things,

I am going to keep things under review,

simply because I really don't want to get in the position

of where we're leaving a load of stuff over into week three

because the idea of trying to get us all back here

after week three, that's going to be very, very difficult

for me personally, but I'm sure for you all too.

So I am anxious to make progress, and I am going

to try my level best to get us to the point where at the end

of week two we've finished the evidence.

So if that means we have to move things

around a little bit then I'm going to do that.

But I'm quite content with finishing for the day now

at 3 o 'clock, we'll resume at 10 tomorrow morning,

but I am going to keep an eye

on the way we're making progress, so.

If it helps, I haven't spoken to all counsel, sorry,

But my friend and I were discussing this earlier.

And we do think the ability to finish the evidence in the two

weeks is a real one.

And since most of it's in our hands on this side of the room,

I'm confident that that can be done.

That's reassuring.

Thank you, Mr. Harris.

I'm not going to delay you all further,

but we know where we're starting in the morning.

We're at the risk of trying everyone's patience.

Can I just ask something about the room?

Am I able to leave a few things here?

I'm not talking about my IT or anything like that,

but paperwork and the like.

Can I leave it in here or in my retirement room?

Is that going to be possible?

That's great because my bag's very heavy.

And I don't want to cart it all back to the hotel.

Good. So I'm sure if anyone else wants to do that,

the same rules apply.

So good. I'm going to adjourn for today.

We'll be back starting tomorrow morning at 10 o 'clock.

Thanks, everyone.

Thank you.

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Truman's Public Inquiry - Tuesday 14 October 2025, 1:07pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Truman's Public InquiryTuesday, 14th October 2025 at 1:07pm

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Truman's Public Inquiry
Tuesday, 14th October 2025 at 1:07pm