Hafer Road

Adam Street, a transport strategist, put an ambitious plan to his neighbours, all of whom had either exercised Right to Buy or acquired their flat from someone who had – to form a limited company (with all seven property-owners as shareholders), buy the freehold from Wandsworth Council, commission a viability assessment, hire an architect and collaboratively solve their problems by redeveloping the site themselves, using additional private-sale flats to fund the re-development.

‘On The Rise’, as the Hafer Road scheme is branded reads – at first glance – as four grand, contemporary, almost identical townhouses, faced in a rich yellow brick. It works as a convincing extension to the three-storey 1880s terrace to the north, into which it is tailored at roof level, the chimney of the house next door embraced by the roof terrace of the topmost corner flat. 

On the front elevation, windows are many and varied – big rectangular oriels pop out at first floor level, echoing the bays of the street’s older houses, and solid brick-clad balconies protrude from the facade.

Inside, all homes – 4 x three- or four-bed maisonettes, 11 x two-bed and 1 x one-bed flats – are east-west dual aspect. All have two generous terraces or balconies. Gardens, with one exception due to a borrowed strip of land, have been omitted in favour of other kinds of space. Almost no home has the same plan as another, shaped partly by returning residents’ different needs, but also by factors such as the irregular shape of the site and the desire to behave politely towards adjacent properties.