The Boiler House

The Boiler House is one of the largest private housing schemes in the UK to use a CLT structure, minimising its embodied carbon footprint.

Comprising 54 bright day-lit studio, one and two bed apartments, the Boiler House fosters community and wellbeing with rooftop gardens and an on-site bike store.

The BREEAM ‘Very Good’ building slots perfectly into the wider Old Vinyl Factory masterplan in Hayes.

The building’s quirky tapering external walls, clad in shimmering stainless steel shingles, recall the area’s industrial heritage. Its central orange staircase is an echo of the boilerhouse chimney that used to occupy the site.

Inheriting the project from the concept architect, Studio Egret West, we developed the detailed design of the building. Alongside the CLT system designer, Eurban Limited, we resolved many design complexities (MEP service co-ordination, roof landscaping, balcony support and sloping façade) without compromising the architectural vision.

This project is an exemplar for the use of CLT and takes full advantage of its benefits: accuracy, quality assurance, speed of assembly, thermal and acoustic insulation properties, airtightness, reduced embodied carbon, improved recyclability.

The CLT frame, consisting of party walls, floors and lift shaft ,was accurately manufactured off-site and erected in just seven weeks.

The fully BIM enabled design work paid off: over 80% of the units sold off-plan.