Vaudeville Court, Finsbury Park

Stacking terraced houses with flats above makes good use of an underused garage site at the base of a council tower.

Site and context

The site was an underused set of garages serving a tower block, at the end of two terraced streets. There was a large-scale difference between the two housing types, and a need to work sensitively with the existing communities.

Development process

Homes for Islington ran a design competition for new high-quality homes for council tenants, exploring how it could fit more into the small pockets of space to provide more homes.

Layout and massing

The design features 13 dwellings in a mixture of duplex homes on the ground and first floors, and two bedroom apartments above. They are arranged in two terraces, with private gardens between them.

Apartments on the upper storeys are accessed via covered decks which are partly open to the elements and more convivial than corridors. Brick lattice screens are carefully placed to ensure privacy. Each deck is shared by only three households to encourage a sense of community.

Construction and sustainability

At the end of the rear garden, a flexible 'garden room' can be used for work, play or additional storage. The roofs are planted to minimise their visual impact and surface water run-off and maximise biodiversity.

The communal gardens surrounding the scheme are shared with residents of the tower block and are run by the tower’s gardening club, giving something back to the tower residents.

Scheme information