Ilderton Wharf is a mixed-use development that brings together purpose-built student accommodation, affordable housing and light industrial space on a constrained site in South Bermondsey. Designed by HTA for Fifth State, the project responds to its setting within the Old Kent Road Opportunity Area and future Bakerloo Line Extension corridor. The three buildings work as a unified composition with distinct architectural identities, sharing a robust brick language and layered material detailing. A community-focused ground floor and generous landscape strategy support wellbeing and local engagement, while the project delivers significant housing, social infrastructure, and industrial reprovision.
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Ilderton Wharf
Thoughtful intensification through mixed-use design, blending student living, affordable homes, and workspace on a compact urban site.
One Place, Many Stories
Architecture
HTA’s architectural response to Ilderton Wharf reflects the site’s layered brief and tight constraints. The project comprises three interconnected buildings, each tailored to its use, 477 student rooms, 79 affordable homes, and industrial workspace, while designed to read as a cohesive ensemble. The scheme navigates adjacency and co-location requirements through considered massing and spatial sequencing.
The student tower anchors the site with a slender vertical profile rising to 27 storeys. Its brick-clad elevations are defined by a bold fenestration grid, with a strong brick gable and decorative glazed brick detailing at the base. The affordable housing shoulder block steps up to 13 storeys toward the railway, using horizontal brick banding and recessed balconies to articulate scale and rhythm. The industrial unit adopts a more utilitarian expression, contributing to the site’s character while supporting local employment.
A shared ground floor connects these uses with active frontages, including a co-working café and community-facing spaces. The scheme exceeds affordable housing policy targets, delivering 40% affordable by habitable room and achieving 100% on-site play provision across ground and roof levels. Every element – from façade articulation to flexible interior layouts, supports density with dignity, community integration, and long-term adaptability.
Landscape Design
HTA’s landscape strategy at Ilderton Wharf delivers meaningful public realm within a constrained footprint, enhancing biodiversity and connectivity. The ground-level experience is shaped by retained mature trees along Surrey Canal Road and new planting that softens the urban grain, while generous active frontages provide moments of pause, activity, and visual interest.
A landscaped podium garden at first floor unites the three buildings, offering residents a shared green space framed by robust planting and 26 new trees. This biodiverse amenity space supports both passive and active uses, balancing privacy with communal life. Play space is integrated throughout the scheme, including rooftop provision and a small publicly accessible garden that opens onto a community café at the north-east corner.
The design improves legibility and pedestrian movement across the site, with particular attention to the junction of Ilderton Road and Surrey Canal Road, a key node identified by planners. Material continuity between architecture and landscape is achieved through coordinated brick paving and decorative treatments that extend the buildings’ detailing into the public realm. Overall, the scheme creates a layered, people-focused landscape that fosters belonging, supports wellbeing, and enhances the experience of this evolving part of Southwark.