Trendy apartments

Residents of a Peabody Trust apartment block in east London will be able to sit out on their balconies all year round thanks to a high-tech winter garden. The roof will feature the same ETFE technology used at the Eden Project bio-domes in Cornwall. "It has very good thermal and acoustic properties and is very economical," says John Pratley, associate at scheme architect Tibbalds TM2. "If the roof was made from glass Peabody wouldn't have been able to afford it." In the garden bamboo trees will help clean the air and water features will keep residents cool in the summer. The winter garden will link two blocks containing 20 000 sq ft of commercial space constructed from in situ concrete, and 115 one, two and three-bed apartments made from precast concrete. For flexibility plasterboard will separate bedrooms, while kitchens and bathrooms will be podded. As well as having a balcony overlooking the winter garden every dwelling will have an outside space. On balconies facing the busy Commercial Road bronze anodised aluminium panels act as an acoustic buffer and provide solar control. The rest of the exterior is mainly glass with some render to provide privacy in the bedrooms. To finance the scheme Peabody is putting half the apartments on the open market, including a three-bed triplex apartment overlooking a canal which the HA hopes will woo buyers away from luxury schemes in nearby Docklands. The scheme is expected to be completed by summer 2002.