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Sustainable Architecture on Sugar House Island
Close to the 2012 Olympic Site in Stratford, London, is a beautiful area bounded by the River Lea and the Three Mills Wall River. This unique piece of land with over 1000 years of industrial history is called Sugar House Island. In the upcoming years, Sugar House Island will be substantially enriched with offices, housing, and other facilities. A special architectural project, in which Mosa’s bespoke tiles play an important role.
The overall Sugar House Island project contains 1.200 homes, a 350-bed hotel, 58.000 square meters of office space, restaurants, bars and other retail stores, contributing to more than 2500 new jobs in the area.
Developer Vastint UK takes the plan one step further. They aim to bring this historic and near-derelict site back to life as an energy-efficient, creatively designed, mixed-use neighborhood. With the objective to create sustainable architecture, various architects, and designers, such as The Manser Practice, Mae, Hunters, and Bryden Wood, are involved in the project.
To create the unique look and feel, Vastint UK and the Manser Practice were looking for sustainable manufacturers. Cradle To Cradle Certified® Gold, Mosa Tiles appeared to be the right option for both parties. As Mosa Tiles is located only 300 miles from the site, this also resulted in minimum carbon footprint emissions, supporting the realisation of sustainable architecture.
Mosa commenced working on the specification with both companies as far back as 2016 starting with the bathroom areas, followed by kitchens, communal areas and walkways. For manageability, the immense architecture project has been divided into several phases.
In the first phase, they opted for a grey theme in the bathrooms. With the support of Mosa’s Pattern Generator, they have created a feature for the walls and panels with Core Collection Terra tiles. Furthermore, for the en-suite shower rooms, a similar design was used but done with the colour cool white. Mosa Tiles produced and supplied shower drains in two different working depths to fit the floor. These drains were supplied with attached water jet cut tile infills to create the seamless look required.
The circulation area tiles required a modular system of bespoke tiles, with the idea to create a pathway within the corridors to keep foot traffic away from apartment doorways.
To ensure smooth development in the project, Mosa Tiles’ regional architectural consultant visited the site on a fortnightly basis during the first phase for progress meetings and assistance.
When moving into the second phase of the project, Mosa Tiles supported the client’s need by delivering customised Core Collection Terra tiles as non-standard sizes were required. This was done by supplying small quantities from the manufacture in the Netherlands in short time.
In early 2021, the specification for the third phase was being finalized. Bespoke tiles were once again required to finish the project and the need for fit-for-purpose solutions were met instantly.
Eventually, the Sugar House Island project will be completed in at least six phases – with Mosa being one of the partners.
Architect
The Manser Practice
