The Bottle Store

Solution

The Bottle Store, in London’s Stockwell Green, was a pioneering mixed-use student residential development for tp bennett. It consists of 328 student rooms, affordable housing and artists’ studios, on a former industrial site (previously a brewery storage facility for returned beer bottles).

The practice successfully made the case that a mixed-use development could provide a coherent, creative and sustainable strategy for the site, delivering flexible low cost employment space, alongside student accommodation and affordable housing. The practice also ensured that key design issues were addressed on a sensitive site adjacent to a conservation area and surrounded by residential properties, to achieve height, massing and detailing that were proportionate and in keeping with the area.

The student element of the development provides accommodation to the University of the Arts London, and the synergy between UAL and the provision of flexible artists’ studios, provided by Acme, a specific provider of artists’ studios and accommodation, creates a bespoke solution for the site and a creative centre in the area.