Golden Lane Estate pilot refurbishment shortlisted for AJ Small Projects award

Our Golden Lane Estate pilot refurbishment, 347 Crescent House, is one of 30 diverse projects shortlisted for the Architects’ Journal AJ Small Projects 30th anniversary from 170 entries. The shortlist includes every typology of project all built within a tight budget of £399,000.

Located in the iconic Golden Lane Estate designed by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the pilot project improves the aged and inefficient fabric, reduces carbon emissions, improves resident comfort and helps to set a standard to help alleviate tenant fuel poverty (half the residents are City of London tenants).

The Pilot Project has been run in a vacant home of the Grade I* Listed Crescent House to enable a detailed assessment of the proposals in both heritage and performance terms.

A full package of improvement works was carried out: removing the existing single glazing, repairing the existing window frames, installing new Vacuum Insulating Glass, adding insulation in strategic locations on the facade, installing the demand-controlled ventilation system, and new all-electric heating and hot water systems.

A three-month occupancy monitoring project was undertaken after completion to provide "lived-in" data on the reduction in heating load, the efficiency of the new demand-controlled ventilation system, and detailed monitoring of the dew point of the existing metal framed window.

These findings will ultimately inform the works for the entire block of 153 flats for which planning approval was granted in December 2023.

A big thank you to @timcrockerphotographer for documenting the process on site from the beginning with his wonderful photography!

AJ subscribers can read the small projects issue here: