Martlesham and Rochford are two residential buildings due to undergo retrofit and refurbishment as part of the wider Broadwater Farm regeneration programme, a major, community‑led renewal programme delivering new council homes, improved public realm and enhanced civic infrastructure in North London.
Karakusevic Carson Architects were appointed by the London Borough of Haringey in 2020 to help shape a strategic approach to the retrofit and refurbishment of these council‑owned buildings. The aim was to develop a robust proof‑of‑concept that could be tested, refined and, given the high degree of repetition across the estate’s block typologies, ultimately scaled to support wider estate improvements.
Originally constructed in the 1960s, Martlesham and Rochford are Large Panel System (LPS) buildings that have been subject to extensive alterations over the past three decades. This has resulted in structures that are physically layered, poorly insulated and lacking a coherent architectural identity. Crucially, detailed investigations also revealed deep‑rooted structural and material risks within the original construction. Despite a long programme of remedial works, these issues require further considered intervention to bring the buildings up to contemporary safety, performance and quality standards.
Our retrofit and refurbishment proposals for Martlesham and Rochford focus on resolving core structural issues, understanding decades of accumulated adaptations and exploring a range of design options to significantly improve thermal performance, extend building lifespan and enhance both internal living quality and external appearance.
Working across the full spectrum of retrofit and refurbishment measures, from essential improvements to thermal performance and fire safety through to holistic estate‑wide strategies encompassing landscape, ground‑floor activation and wider neighbourhood integration, we developed a set of comprehensive, strategic intervention options that were carefully calibrated to residents’ needs and to the Council’s budgets and long‑term ambitions. The designs consider how these existing buildings can be sustainably upgraded, contribute meaningfully to the wider estate vision and regain a coherent architectural character. As part of this, we explored opportunities to repurpose the open‑sided garages to create new active uses that strengthen the buildings’ relationship with the surrounding public realm and urban design strategy.
Martlesham and Rochford are two of sixteen Large Panel System buildings at Broadwater Farm, and their refurbishment will set an important precedent for how the others can evolve. Before wider roll‑out, these pilot projects within the original buildings allow Haringey to test and refine approaches in situ, informing a robust set of technical guidelines and standards for these and other similar council‑owned blocks.