Adams & Sutherland Architects has transformed a series of east London garages into a sustainable fashion hub

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Anthony Coleman

Poplar Works comprises 100 repurposed garages located across two sites in the Aberfeldy and Teviot neighbourhoods of east London. Designed by Adams & Sutherland Architects with executive architect Calfordseaden, the units have been transformed into 45 custom-designed, low-cost workshops and studios, a public cafe and events space, as well as manufacturing facilities providing enterprise support and training programmes.

Intended to ‘bring fashion back’ to east London, the project forms a significant part of the Lower Lea Valley regeneration scheme. The refurbished garages accommodate ground floor units with a new upper storeys constructed in cross-laminated timber supplied by Stora Enso. The building is 170-metres long and 5.5-metres wide, its cranked plan arranged in a dynamic zigzag, running alongside the Blackwall Tunnel approach road. The manufacturing unit is located in the middle of the plan, appropriate to its place at the heart of fashion design and production. By following the linear footprint of the garages, the building makes use of existing foundations, cross-walls and retaining walls to minimise new concrete substructure and landfill waste.

Site plan, ground and first-floor plans; section

Black rubber EPDM cladding provides the finish to both the highly insulated elevation facing the A12 and roof surface. This economic and sustainable material creates a more simplified building appearance, reducing the number of complex material junctions and eliminating secondary rainwater goods. On other facades, timber cladding, stained in shades of red and orange is intended to give the scheme a warm, legible identity. Sawtooth rooflights provide a distinctive industrial character to the whole development.

The north end of the building rises in height to form an entrance element, which accommodates a cafe and first-floor gallery overlooking a nine-metre high interior space. Horizontal circulation is external, by way of the street on the ground floor and an external steel walkway at first-floor level. Timber over-cladding provides a degree of privacy between local residents and studio users.

The ground floor accommodation is characterised by an industrial language of painted steel structure and existing blockwork walls, with surface-mounted services throughout. On the first floor, CLT panels are left exposed and are designed to provide a warm and low-maintenance aesthetic. Transmission of daylight is an important factor across all parts of the building with translucent polycarbonate panels providing each unit with as much daylight as possible without compromising security or privacy.

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