Project Overview

Ebury Edge is a temporary work and community space at the heart of Westminster, providing affordable workspace and retail units, a cafe, community hall and public courtyard. As part of the redevelopment of Ebury Bridge Estate, Westminster City Council was keen to give the local community an immediate sign of the regeneration. The meanwhile buildings include a community hall, cafe and workspace and will be in place while the renewal of the estate progresses for about five years.

The concept consists of two buildings: a two-storey building with a timber frame workspace and retail at ground floor and a single-storey block containing a cafe and community hall, open internally to an asymmetric pitched roof using prefabricated timber trusses. A scaffold frame links the buildings and will provide the substrate for greenery to grow. As it is a ‘meanwhile’ proposal, the design needed to be efficient, offering good value whilst enabling simple construction and a future reuse. Fully electric and designed to be demountable and be reassembled, buildings had sustainability at the incipit. Arup provided SMEP plus civils, fire, environmental and acoustic engineering services, with the design developed from concept to tender in just two months.