Located in Croydon, College Road locates nearly 1000 homes on a site of just 2000m2 in two adjoined towers, a 50-storey tower of 817 co-living apartments named ‘Enclave: Croydon’ and a 35-storey tower providing 120 affordable homes. The development was a collaborative effort between HTA, Tide, Vision and Outpost Management resulting in Europe’s tallest residential volumetric tower at 163 meters high. Enclave stands out as the first co-living asset class approved by the Greater London Authority (GLA) under the London Plan.
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Drawing inspiration from its mid-century neighbour, Richard Seifert’s NLA building, located directly to the East, the façade has been designed for graphic impact from every viewpoint. Terracotta was chosen as the rainscreen façade for its durability and versatility. Following planning approval, HTA engaged with NBK, a company based in Emmerich am Rhein, working with them to prototype panels with different profiles and glazing treatments. The concertina arrangement of the north façade generates shadows that emphasise the geometry, creating an impressive welcome on exiting East Croydon Station. Faceting on the remaining facades is gentler, achieved with white glazed vertical and horizontally oriented panels.
Proximity to infrastructure, and the growing popularity of the typology, suggest that demand for homes like the ones offered by Enclave:Croydon will endure. The team has created a large scale co-living community that provides each resident with a more diverse range, and greater quality of, shared facilities, with enhanced opportunities for finding common interests.
Generous communal spaces to foster interaction include a spa, a high-end gym, cinema, music room and co-working spaces, topped with a Sky Garden on the 50th floor. London-based studio TiggColl have brought high-end hospitality design to the amenity interiors, with HTA’s own interiors team delivering a range of options for the modular homes.
Looking ahead, College Road’s colonnade will connect to the emerging cultural quarter. HTA collaborated with artist Adam Nathaniel Furman to wrap seven 19-meter-high columns in slip-cast porcelain tiles with a graduated blue glaze, creating an uplifting new landscaped route.
