dRMM

Plans submitted for Passivhaus homes in Salford Our ECF #partnership has submitted plans for a further 42 #affordable, #Passivhaus homes at Crescent Salford. Designed by dRMM, the new homes will form part of #AdelphiVillage, a #community to the east of the River Irwell, and one of six zones that make up the £2.5bn Crescent Salford masterplan. Residents will benefit from reduced energy bills of up to 90% compared to traditional housing, a comfortable living environment, enhanced ventilation, and sustainable design and build. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eiyQMguy ECF with Legal & General | Homes England | Salford City Council | The University of Salford #placemaking #regeneration #sustainablehomes

In Hackney, dRMM’s Wick Lane masterplan integrates homes, industrial, and creative spaces into a vibrant, co-located community, drawing on the area’s industrial heritage and blending contemporary needs with historical character. See more photos + a short film from Jim Stephenson and hear from Philip Marsh, director at dRMM, David Pelle, land and planning director at Taylor Wimpey plc and tenant Seb Michalski, owner of MerchHub in the link below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eYuv2dg5 Client: Taylor Wimpey Central London Architect: dRMM Planning authority: London Legacy Development Corporation Main contractor: Taylor Wimpey London Structural engineer: AECOM Executive structural engineer: Clarke Nicholls Marcel Fire engineer: AECOM Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (planning): PinnacleESP Ltd Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (executive): Venables Associates Landscape architect (planning): Grant Associates Landscape architect (executive): JFA Energy and sustainability consultant: Environmental Economics Ltd Heritage consultants: Tibbalds Cost consultant: Martin Arnold Ltd Daylight/Sunlight: Anstey Horne Workspace fitout: Tradestars and sophie franks design

We're so pleased to start talking about Wick Lane. The workspace fitout was completed by Tradestars nearly a year ago and, with a number of small businesses moving in to their studios through 2024, the scheme is proving to be a successful integration of homes and workspace in east London Wick Lane building study in Architects’ Journal by Derin Fadina is online today. https://lnkd.in/gUdEWwxQ

Book your place at our #HealthyBuildings2025 Conference & Expo on 26th February, 9:30-17:00 in London. https://lnkd.in/dZGjnBKw . Our afternoon talks begin with a focus on healthy indoor environments. We are delighted to have Professor Michael Davies of UCL to kick off this session. His presentation is titled Health Co-benefits of Climate Action for Housing. Mike Davies is Professor of Building Physics and the Environment, at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. His multidisciplinary research interests relate to the complex relationship between the built environment and human well-being. Professor Davies has been appointed by the Climate Change Committee as an expert adviser to support the publication of the progress report. Mike Davies is followed by Chryssa Thoua who will talk about her deep dive into measuring and monitoring VOCs in schools. Chryssa is an architect at Architype and a PhD student at UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering. Her research into this topic resulted from a collaboration between Architype, Historic England, and UCL, and explored aspects of the indoor environment in school buildings and, in particular, Passivhaus primary schools in the UK. The final topic of this session is 'Quality of Life and Decarbonisation'. Kat Scott and Finbar Charleson will give a presentation on dRMM research funded by the Built by Nature Accelerator Fund. This research study looked at the whole life carbon and quality of life impacts of mass timber buildings. Thanks to Built by Nature's commitment, dRMM investigated how to define what good looks like for timber buildings, providing a scalable method for understanding the carbon and wellbeing benefits of mass timber, as well as how they can be maximised across national and international development. Book now for #HealthyBuildings2025 - a conference and Expo with One Click LCA, Ecological Building Systems, Bereco , Buckland Timber, Double Helix Tracking Technologies, PEFC UK Limited, PYC Group, and Interior Design Declares - UK. 26th February 2025 | 9:30-17:00 | The Human Rights Action Centre (at Amnesty International UK), London EC2A 3EA. https://lnkd.in/dZGjnBKw.

What a great morning! Hugo S. went along from dRMM and, having just published our first impact report, found it incredibly useful to have contact with other built environment B Corps. Til next time.

Just over a year ago, dRMM achieved B Corp Certification. Every B Corp commits to publishing an annual Impact Report reviewing progress, which gives us a chance to formally assess whether we’re getting closer to or further from our practice aims.   This Impact Report outlines our first annual retrospective of how we’ve fared within B Corp’s core focus areas – its successes, setbacks, and areas for improvement. In the coming year, we have set clear targets for advancing our B Corp certification. From refining our evidence-based design process to focusing on workplace well-being, each element is integral to how we achieve best practice in a holistic way. While we continue to focus on positive change, we acknowledge the challenges of the current market conditions. Nonetheless, we remain committed to our long-term sustainability goals, and to keeping relevant our definition of what “socially useful architecture” is. You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/dRadu9WJ

dRMM are working with developers Hadley Property Group and masterplanners Haworth Tompkins on 980 Great West Road, the regeneration of the GSK site in Brentford, west London. The vision is to create a truly mixed-use development, an integrated live and work ‘campus’. There is an aspiration to be an exemplar of the circular economy in practice, with integration of existing buildings and structures and the re-use of materials across the site. Having recently completed our own studio retrofit with circularity at the forefront, this aligns perfectly with our thinking. As well as HT, the design team includes Studio Egret West, Metropolitan Workshop LLP, Buro Happold, McGregor Coxall, Walsh - Structural, Civil & Geotechnical Engineers and Turley. Our three plots, on the east of the masterplan, will provide creative workspace and community uses alongside well over 200 homes as part of the wider site housing ambition. The plots are adjacent to the Chiswick flyover, the area under which will create a new character area and focal point of activity for the local community as well as visitors to the area. Planning is targeted for mid 2025. Judith Stichtenoth, director, said: dRMM are excited about Hadley’s vision and sustainability aspirations for the project, especially the circular economy strategy. In addition, the prospect of activating a fairly bleak and inaccessible area under the M4 will make such a big difference to the area. The way this project is being run is such a great template for how all projects could be run, with early involvement of the whole team, contributing to big and small moves. It makes for a genuinely collaborative experience and we're really enjoying it.

dRMM has moved. After three decades in SE1 we have relocated to Coate Street in Hackney. We have spent 2024 retrofitting a Victorian boot factory, and have consolidated our research on carbon, circularity and climate resilience into a workspace which mirrors our studio’s culture. We’re looking forward to sharing more about this project next year along with details about the completion of our first project in Berlin and the publication of our research project, Measuring Mass Timber. In the meantime, we wish everyone a happy holiday season and a good start to 2025.

I was very excited to visit the completed #WorkStack today - for which Alex de Rijke's highly effective concept sketch of stepping stacked logs was on the drawing board back in my days at dRMM! The result is a brilliantly innovative solution to constrained sites, by putting industrial units on-top of each other within a compact footprint- all made possible with lightweight structural cross-laminated-timber (CLT). The structure stores 343 metric tonnes of sequestered carbon, whilst making it viable for Greenwich Enterprise Board to provide essential creative, office and light-industrial work spaces at affordable rents. Inside, the raw CLT finish is left exposed; reducing the cyclical fit-out rip-out of finishes often seen in commercial lets. The building felt brand-spanking-newly completed despite being occupied for over 18 months, partly due to material robustness, but also the care to the building by its occupants. The units give flexibility for tenants to arrange and fill their space for any imaginable use, a welcome offer where workshop space in London is otherwise hard to find. We were fortunate to visit both a furniture and kimchi maker's workspaces, both of whom described the unique comfort and pleasure of working in such tactile and warm conditions (well insulated and heated by air source heat pump), complete with good daylight and views. Notably the relative humidity remains low and constant, which provides ideal conditions for both makers, where typical industrial workspaces have fluctuating temperatures and moisture levels. For me, this is a great example of how off-site timber can unlock difficult sites, competing demands for land use and the need to sustainably densify. Another example of how timber construction can maximise usable space in the city is exemplified in the recently launched 'Optoppen' project - a Dutch term translating as "topping up," through the addition of lightweight, low-carbon roof extensions. The project, supported by Built by Nature, brings together case studies and EU policies that encourage #Optoppen as well as a tool that allows you to calculate how much square meterage could be gained and carbon stored - go check it out!

12 Days of #Populo: Day 3! ❄️   This March we completed phase two of the #Didsbury, a stunning development which transforms East Ham's original 1939 Town Hall Annexe into 37 new build apartments boasting two additional floors, private outdoor spaces, art-deco accents, a peaceful communal courtyard, and fantastic transport links.   So proud of our project team and the architects at dRMM behind this build, which won a 'highly commended' award at last year's Love to Rent Build to Rent awards!   ✨ A true blend of history and modern living, The Didsbury's second phase showcases our commitment to thoughtful regeneration.   Here’s to transforming spaces and creating homes in 2025! 🏡   #EastHam #Regeneration #Newham