Waugh Thistleton Architects

Dalston Works was the world’s largest CLT building on completion, and a landmark project in our ambition to roll out the use of timber construction in high-density urban housing, across London and beyond.

The ten-storey, 121-unit development is made entirely of CLT, from the external, party and core walls, through to the floors and stairs, weighing a fifth of a concrete building of this size, and reducing the number of deliveries during construction by 80 per cent.

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APPROACH

As well as tackling London’s need for high quality, high-density housing that provides a natural and healthy living environment, this groundbreaking use of timber technology has significantly reduced the carbon footprint of the building in terms of both material production and on-site time and energy consumption.

Due to its vastly reduced weight, the building is taller than was ever thought feasible on the neglected brownfield site. 

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Drawing showing the CLT structure

DESIGN

The distinctly modern residential community makes up a large part of the new streetscape, and responds in scale with varied roof heights, undulating between five and ten storeys, each orientated to maximise daylight to the apartments’ balconies and communal open spaces. 

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The building’s intricate brickwork references both the surrounding Victorian and Edwardian housing and the craftsmanship-like detailing of the local warehouses.

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RESULT

The project has been the subject of exciting partnerships with the London Borough of Hackney and timber-engineering specialists Ramboll, and is fast becoming the subject of international interest, attracting hundreds of site visitors, and putting Hackney firmly on the map as a world leader for timber construction.