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Hartley Centre wins planning permission Project Update

Mæ and Populo Living have received planning permission for Hartley Centre in East Ham for the London Borough of Newham.

Located on a currently empty site in the heart of East Ham, the new centre combines a 1,650 sqm community health centre with 75 homes for later living. Designed according to principles outlined in Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation (HAPPI), the new homes will offer high quality accommodation to elderly council tenants and help free up existing homes to families on Newham’s waiting list. 100% of the new homes will be genuinely affordable, at London Affordable rent levels.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to design Populo Living’s first ‘later life’ housing development and create a building shaped around the needs of its community.” Alex Ely, Founding Director, Mæ

June 2021 View Project

Mæ appointed as masterplan architect for Meridian Water Project Update

Mæ has been appointed by London Borough of Enfield as masterplan architect for Meridian Water. The £6bn, 20-year regeneration programme will bring 10,000 homes alongside a truly mixed-use community and thousands of jobs to Enfield. As the Borough declares a climate emergency our goal is to make Meridian Water the UK’s most sustainable development and help realise their commitment to making the authority carbon neural by 2030.

April 2020 Read more

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Chimes shortlisted for the Inside Housing Development Awards 2021 Project Update

Our later living project in Westminster for PegasusLife, Chimes, has been shortlisted in the Best Older People's Housing Development category at the 2021 Inside Housing Development Awards.

Older people’s homes have been in the spotlight this year more than ever before. Throughout this time, and as the population ages, the need for well-designed homes for older people becomes ever more important. This award recognises homes for older people that are desirable, safe, accessible and are well designed to meet current and future care and support needs.

Chimes provides 39 assisted living flats on six floors together with communal kitchen-café, storage areas, wellness centre/spa, guest accommodation, and apartments for staff.

April 2021 Read more

'From City to Room, A manifesto for better living' talk at the London Society Practice News

As part of a series of events connected to our new publication 'From City to Room, A manifesto for better living', we gave a talk hosted by the London Society at Studio Egret West.

Decades of underprovision, combined with unprecedented population growth mean that buildings have to work more efficiently than ever before, both in terms of their uses and the resources they use. The pressures of climate change also mean sustainability is no longer an add-on but the starting point for any discussion about how, where and what we build. 

So how do we overcome these challenges. How can we ensure that more is also better? And what can we do to give people the homes, buildings, neighbourhoods and cities they need?

The talk explored the integrated thinking that we believe is necessary to solving today’s urban, social and environmental challenges.

February 2020 Read more

John Morden Centre completes Project Update

John Morden Centre is now complete. The scheme creates a day care centre for residents of Morden College, bringing together facilities currently spread across the college site into an innovative, characterful new building designed to tackle social isolation among older residents by providing spaces to interact.

"John Morden Centre will sit at the heart of the college, a hub of life and activity. A place that not only inspires our residents to spend time in, because time spent in John Morden Centre will enable them to feel good about themselves and about life; but also a place that inspires our staff, to care even more." David Rutherford-Jones CEO Morden College

March 2021 View Project

Chimes shortlisted for a Housing Design Award Project Update

Chimes, our later living project with PegasusLife has been shortlisted for the Housing Design Awards 2021.

The Housing Design Awards are the only awards promoted by all 5 major professional institutions – RICS, RIBA, RTPI, Landscape Institute and Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.

Winning projects will be announced at a ceremony towards the end of the year.

March 2021 Read more

Equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives Practice News

Mæ are committed to supporting a number of initiatives responding to equality, diversity and inclusion in architecture.

Re_Set_Go is a programme designed to make space for excluded voices and pilot ways to build more progressive and representative architectural communities. Employer partners are formed from the London Practice Forum, of which Mæ is a member, and we will be hosting a workplace mentoring scheme where young people are given professional experience during focussed sessions with senior staff.

In addition Mæ are currently providing workshops with PARADIGM Network, a professional network for architects which exists to support, encourage, and help talented architects from Black and Asian backgrounds.

February 2021 Read more

Good Quality Homes for all Londoners Research News

Today the Mayor of London has published 'Good Quality Housing for all Londoners' Supplementary Planning Guidance.

Written by Mæ with the team at the GLA and our consultants, the suite of four guidance documents embeds quality at the centre of housing delivery.

Mæ Founding Director and Mayor’s Design Advocate Alex Ely presented the guidance at GLA's 'Designing a City for All Londoners', which sought to recognise the role of design in improving development and delivering quality of life in a growing city. It celebrated the Good Growth by Design programme and the progress that has been made across a range of priority areas including the circular economy, child-friendly cities and high streets.

March 2020 Read more

Mæ selected for the masterplan of Derbent, Russia's oldest city Project Update

The competition is for the remasterplan of Derbent in Russia, Dagestan's second largest city and one of the oldest cities in Russia.

Our multi-disciplinary and international team has been selected from 144 applications, and our winning strategy is aimed at building in resilience; addressing a lack of housing, education and cultural infrastructure and creating economic opportunity.

Based on the guiding principle of a vibrant city, we have developed a forward looking vision for Derbent which respects the unique identity and qualities of the city.

Derbent is located on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, at the foothills of the Tabasaran Mountains of the Greater Caucasus. The historic city centre is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its citadel, ancient town, and fortress buildings.

November 2019 Read more

Mae News