Ashton Court – Retirement Housing

This retirement housing is situated within a conservation area in a well-known location in Camden, Ashton Court was built in the late 1970s and was in dire need of renovations and a comprehensive upgrade to improve the standards of accommodation and well-being of residents.

WWA was responsible for securing the planning permission at the site on behalf of Origin Housing and navigated difficult Conservation Area constraints to deliver a sustainable reuse of an existing building whilst providing accessible retirement housing for residents.

The building was remodelled with better accessibility to accommodate 24 homes with balconies. This was undertaken through clever re-planning of the internal layouts to enlarge the current flats to meet modern accessibility standards. Units consist of one bedroom, with some individual requirements being met to improve accessibility.

Five new private residential mews houses were developed to the rear of the site for sale to fund the regeneration of the existing building. These were designed to maximise natural light as well as take a ‘fabric first approach’ to sustainability. To find out more about the accompanying Mews House scheme, read our article Mews Houses – Camden.

To find out more about our team of retirement housing design specialists, see the About us section of our website, where, in particular, Mark Slater and Kathryn Gundry lead our in-house expertise in this area of specialism. Our interdisciplinary team includes Town Planners who delivered a positive outcome within the difficult context of a conservation area – an example of in-house expertise benefiting our clients directly.