Sir William Pickles Hartley incorporated his jam-making business in 1884 and established a manufacturing base on Rothsay Street in Bermondsey in 1902. When production at the factory ended, the future of this fragment of London’s architectural and industrial history was threatened. To conserve the factory building, we converted it into a mix of uses to serve a new community.
The result is an attractive new address that combines the best in contemporary high-density living with the heritage values of its site. The original 3 buildings were sensitively repurposed into a mix of high-quality apartments, penthouses and flexible live/work units. The buildings stand within landscaped communal courtyard gardens, with gated entry, and secure underground residents’ parking. Homes facing the internal courtyard feature balconies, populating the space and providing private outdoor amenity.
The most prominent contemporary intervention is the introduction of lightweight, glazed penthouses, strategically set back from the existing façade to form private outdoor terraces. These new additions are thoughtfully integrated with the site’s historic character, with the retained open-brick façade reinforcing the original architectural vernacular and ensuring a cohesive dialogue between old and new.