London’s deep stock of historic buildings offers many chances for creative repurposing. In this case, MAAPS were asked to refurbish and remodel an existing Grade II listed bank building in Stratford. Our joint clients for the project were the London mayor-funded Women’s Education in Building (WEB) charity and the East Thames Housing Association. The project would provide an administrative home for WEB, as well as business-incubator suites for local enterprises, general offices, a café, and conference and training facilities.

The interior design and architectural remodelling approach were deliberately didactic. In conjunction with English Heritage, we developed a programme of careful stripping back layers to reveal intriguing evidence of the building’s past historic transformations. This allowed the team to formulate a comprehensive design reconfiguration, where new interventions and existing structures help to visually interconnect the whole.

The project design team included international artist Zineb Sedira, as both curator and facilitator for numerous installations and artworks inspired by construction tools and trade skills within the built fabric of the building.

Opened by Princess Anne, the building is a celebration of local enterprise and women’s engagement and skills training in construction.