9 April 2018 – Hans van der Heijden Architect has been appointed by Travel for London (TfL) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to the Architecture Design Urbanism Panel (ADUP), which is comprised of twelve practices as part of a framework for the design and delivery of housing on sites throughout London.

The selection consisted of two rounds, the second of which required participating practices to illustrate their vision for the urbanisation of existing retail sites through the combination of housing and work uses. In collaboration with Karin Templin, a local urbanist and housing expert, we proposed a ‘House with Many Doors’ for the Old Kent Road in South London. Derived from Venetian and London precedents, a new repetitive type is created through the combination of large retail units, flexible programmes, and live-work units which are accessed at street level.

The appointment to the ADUP panel represents a catalyst for our international ambitions. At this moment, houses are built to an incomparably better standard than in the Netherlands. As the only foreign practice on the list, it is encouraging to know that we are recognised as housing experts in the UK as well as the Netherlands.