| CLTH

If there’s one thing we’ve learned makes better buildings, it’s empathy. Architecture never happens in isolation—and simply by being interested and engaged, we’ve found it’s possible to open up the conversations that connect a scheme to its clients and community.

We believe that the more constraints there are, the better the architecture. If there aren’t any constraints, we create them. Challenging sites, existing buildings and complex briefs almost always present incredible opportunities for great design.

To limit our environmental impact, we start with what is already there. By manipulating the form and fabric of a building—whether new or existing—we can work with the existing conditions of topography, light and orientation, and harness the natural energy sources offered by air, ground and water.

If a site’s constraints guide the bigger design decisions, then it’s empathy that informs the smaller, social details. These details frame the human narratives that aren’t included in the brief, anticipating specific moments in the users’ lives.

Good architecture is as much about what happens on the building site as it is about what’s on the drawing board. By working alongside contractors as well as clients we can ring-fence the ideas and details that matter, championing quality and sustainability throughout construction.

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Work

Your Bruce Grove
Haringey, London

Client

Borough of Haringey

Your Bruce Grove (YBG) is a project with the London Borough of Haringey to improve and develop a series of interconnected streets and spaces in Bruce Grove Town Centre, with the aim of ‘thickening’ Tottenham High Road. Back streets will be established as safe, welcoming, and lively spaces where local communities socialise, shop and work and where Haringey Council can deliver its own high-quality homes and workspace.

CLTH is undertaking in-depth urban analysis and holding community engagement workshops to inform the development of site-wide strategies. Together with Newman Francis and Haringey Council, CLTH put together a bespoke 9-week engagement programme, which included a series of carefully planned activities held using a variety of tools and techniques. Starting in June 2023, 45 separate engagement events were held, including street interviews, door knocking interviews, local business and stakeholder interviews, market pop-ups, and interactive themed workshops.

The scheme supports a modal shift from vehicle reliance to promoting active travel through a people-first approach that prioritises walking and cycling routes through the town centre and to nearby green spaces. By releasing car parks and roads, we are creating an opportunity to create more space for open, sustainable spaces which will lower the heat island effect.