Mixed-use scheme will add extension to the late-medieval Bromley Hall

Kier has chalked up an £11.6m deal in wast London to build a modern extension to the capital’s oldest surviving brick house.

The mixed-use scheme in Poplar for housing association Poplar Harca will link two grade II-listed buildings with a block providing 533m2 of commercial space and see a second three-storey residential block built behind it providing 22 homes.

Kier Bromley Hall 2

The late 15th century Bromley Hall in its current state

One of the buildings, Bromley Hall, is thought to have been built around 1485 and is considered by historians to be the oldest standing structure in London built from bricks.

The late medieval relic, which was seized by Henry VIII in 1531 during the dissolution of the monasteries, was found to contain early-Tudor wall paintings and carvings during a restoration in 2005.

Historic England said the building is “a remarkable and rare survival in London of an early Tudor manor, and one [of] the most important listed buildings in the borough.”  

The other listed building, Poplar Library, dates to 1904-05.

Both buildings face directly onto the northern approach to the Blackwall Tunnel, which has been a dual carriageway since the 1960s.

Kier Bromley Hall 1

How the new block will look when completed

The new scheme, which has been designed by Stockwool architects and is known as Gillender Court, will require the demolition of a single storey 1920s extension to Bromley Hall.

The new block’s facade, which originally projected beyond the front of Bromley Hall, has been pushed back by 1.25m in revised designs to reduce its impact on the listed building in line with Historic England’s recommendations.