A Farrell Grimshaw Partnership project, completed 1974.

This site was originally to be developed by the Maunsel Metropolitan Housing Association but, following the Housing Finance Act, it was decided that the scheme should be taken over by Camden Housing Department. In the final scheme 96 units were constructed to house 327 people. The largest family maisonettes were located at ground floor with a rear garden, whilst smaller maisonettes on the top floor had a roof garden, and smaller flats located on the middle floors. Short term adaptability and long-term change were built into the design whereby all internal space divisions between the cross walls were of non-load bearing gyproc partition for ease of later space customisation.

The properties made up much of the eastern side of the street. Although the remaining buildings were not thought to be of architectural interest, the practice acknowledged that the site had an important relationship to adjacent areas in the Bloomsbury Conservation Area. A terrace form was generated from the design of double aspect flats and maisonettes within a concrete cross-wall construction. The predominant facing material was a hard, stack-bonded red brick at upper floor level, with render at street level.

Meeting minutes and papers.

Management and Executive Board meeting files, together with some small additional files relating to practice organisation and development strategies during the period, and some files relating to practice membership of external organisations.

In 1974, the Maunsel Housing Society commissioned the Farrell Grimshaw Partnership to build a series of small infill housing schemes at various locations around London's perimeter including Luton, Romford and Croydon, and were designed to a common approach.

Dwellings were developed as a combination of boxes all constructed from repetitive panels. Wherever possible the scheme was for houses rather than flats. Where density prevented this family maisonettes were placed over one-storey lower ground floor flats, providing each dwelling with its own front door accessible from the street and an amount of private open space in the form of a terrace, patio or garden. Shared internal spaces such as stairs and corridors were eliminated from initial plans with the aim of giving greater tenant identification with, and control over, their own home. Houses and upper maisonettes were built with a lightweight timber construction whilst flats on the lower ground floor were constructed from masonary which gave a higher standard of sound and fire separation from the maisonette above.

One single timber frame contractor was used, but contractors local to each site were used for the building phase, so that the cost benefits of local contracting were combined with the best use of factory mass produced methods.

A Farrell Grimshaw Partnership Project. 84 Augustus Road, Wimbledon, London. This was the 1st project for the Maunsel Housing Society. The original brief was to provide accommodation, consisting of 39 two-bedroom maisonettes, 16 one-bedroom flats in three identical blocks. An additional fourth block comprised 5 three-bedroomed town houses.

From the existing proposed layouts from the Society, it was felt that the full advantages of the site had not been taken advantage of. A revised scheme was prepared to accommodate a similar number of units redistributed in three blocks four-storeys high and a fourth block of town houses. The three main blocks were designed on a ‘reverse stack’ principle, with two maisonettes taking up the complete width of the ground and fourth floors, and two middle floors comprising of flats taking up half the width of each floor, behind which were two half floors belonging to the ground and fourth floor maisonettes respectively. This layout offered a southerly aspect to all living areas, as well as roof terraces and gardens. It also allowed vehicular segregation by providing car parking only on the northern side of the site with immediate access from the driveway.

This project, which started in 1991 and completed in 2005, underwent a number of phases. Starting as a plan for housing the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport, the objective of the redevelopment was to redesign ‘Marsham Towers’ which had been receiving public criticism.

In 1991, property developer British Land bid to redevelop the site as a speculative mixed-use scheme with Terry Farrell and Partners producing a masterplan for the site. In 1994, an architectural competition, sponsored by the Department of the Environment was won by Fitzroy Robinson, which used an ‘illustrative scheme’ by Sir Terry Farrell and Partners as part of the outline planning application. Outline planning approval was granted in 1997, however in 1998, a PFI bid was submitted by developer European Land to house the Home Office on the Marsham Street site with Terry Farrell and Partners and Bouygues as constructor and facilities manager. In March 2000 Bouygues took over PFI consortium from European Land and submitted a final PFI bid with revised masterplan by Terry Farrell and Partners. Demolition of Marsham Towers and construction of the new building began in 2002. Marsham Street eventually housed the Government Home Office Department.

Terry Farrell & Partners responded to the initial brief as an opportunity to apply the issues of sustainability to one of the few London inner-city sites large enough to allow for this at scale. Particular emphasis was placed on conservation of the city fabric; sustainable community; and conservation of energy. The object was to find an appropriate low energy urban form by maximising free energies such as solar penetration in the winter, night-time cooling in the summer, and maximising daylight and natural ventilation throughout the year. Terry Farrell and Partners also worked with engineers Battle McCarthy to create a 3D modelling tool for energy consumption estimates based upon local climatic conditions, building orientation, occupancy patterns, overshadowing and glazing.

A number of environmental design aspects were retained in the design for the final building. The central building was a mixed mode ventilation building planned around a pair of atria topped with wind towers that were used as natural chimneys to draw warm stale air out of the building. The east façade had a series of kinetic blinds to block unwanted early-morning sun. The east west orientation of the building however meant that only the southern elevation needed protection from high angle sun penetration and some air cooling. The southern building was also impacted by traffic noise and pollution, and the solution was a proposal for a secondary glass skin set away from the building, creating a thermal flue which also provided a protective zone. The Northern Building on Great Peter Street could be fully naturally ventilated and the building was planned around open courtyards which allowed daylight and openable windows to all faces.

Construction Partners:
Client: The Home Office
Engineers: Pell Frischmann; Battle McCarthy; Flack & Kurtz; Lovejoy
Contractor: Bouygues
Other: DHA Design

Practice portfolios and brochures, promotional items and practice publications.

In 1999-2000, Terry Farrell and Partners published the Margate Old Town masterplan, including a £10million arts complex and plans for the building of the Turner Centre art gallery. In 2001, Terry Farrell and the Kent Architecture Centre worked together in the launch of a design competition for the new Turner Centre, which opened in 2011. Terry Farrell and Partners also managed the extensive refurbishment of grade II listed Droit House between 2001-2005. Droit House functioned as an interpretation centre for the Turner Centre during its construction, and afterwards as a Visitor Information Centre for Margate.

The Triangles, Mansion House Square Study. Mansion House Square, London. For SAVE and English Heritage. STUDY. 1984.

The Manchester University Masterplan was devised as part of an overall Estates Strategy to unite Manchester University with University of Manchester Institute for Science and Technology. The project was known as 'Project Unity,' and was designed to reappraise the combined estate, infrastructure and larger setting within the City of Manchester. Terry Farrell and Partners were appointed as external consultants to produce the initial masterplan.