St Bernard's Gate
Tags: residential, steel, masonry, new build
Related projects: Mann Island
- Client: Catalyst Housing Limited
- Architect: Hester Architects
- Photography: Lucy Savage
- Completion: 2018
- Value: £46m
- Size: 22,000 m²
- Expertise: Structures, Civils
St Bernard’s Gate is a housing and retail scheme located in a leafy residential urban village in the London Borough of Ealing in West London on a hospital site with historic interest.
The St Bernard’s Hospital site had undergone extensive work and modernisation over the years. In 2013, West London Mental Health Trust sold part of this site to help them raise funds for a building within their secure unit. Catalyst Housing Group acquired the site from the Trust and a new mixed tenure housing scheme was proposed.
As well as five new-build blocks containing 260 units, the completed scheme utilises several existing buildings on the site. The original gatehouse – a Grade II listed building - is reinstated as a focal point; the North House, a three-storey Victorian building previously used as doctors’ quarters is converted into 10 homes; and the chapel provides much-needed social and community space.
Given the scheme’s location adjacent to Ealing Hospital, it was crucial to ensure hospital operations could continue as normal. A number of below-ground constraints such as live gas mains and large service tunnels housing critical hospital infrastructure run through the site, which meant a high level of coordination was required throughout the design and construction phasing. We collaborated closely with the services engineers, contractor, relevant stakeholders and service providers, and took full responsibility for the overall coordination of the subsurface service routes.
Awards
- Inside Housing Development Awards 2018, Best Residential Development (over 71 homes), shortlisted, 8 2018
- National Housing Awards 2018, Best Large Development, shortlisted, 8 2018
- First Time Buyer Readers' Awards 2018, Best Large Development, winner, 4 2018
- Planning Awards 2017, Best Use of Brownfield Land in Placemaking, shortlisted, 3 2017