urbanest Battersea at Palmerston Court is a four-block, student-housing-led mixed-use development located in the heart of London.
Three blocks consist of 850 beds of sector-leading student accommodation, and the fourth block comprises office, enterprise, and community spaces, along with a replacement pub.
Appointed at the pre-planning stage, we worked in close coordination with other disciplines to ensure the student housing achieved the rigorous standards required for PassivHaus accreditation. For the office block, we adopted modern methods of construction (MMC) to deliver a high-performance and cost-effective structure.
Boundary Constraints:
Maximising the usable space on the constrained site was critical. Our solution was to develop 4-6m cantilevers on the lower four floors of all four blocks. This design avoided costly utility diversions and became an iconic architectural feature.
PassivHaus Specification:
The strict requirements of PassivHaus design shaped the structural approach. We reduced slab deflections by designing small floor spans, ensuring airtightness throughout the building. Detailed interdisciplinary coordination was necessary to maintain this airtightness, particularly at door thresholds, window openings, and penetrations. Concrete shafts were also used to support airtightness across the development.
The office blockās steel frame structure was built using precast cassettes, which integrated secondary steel beams during off-site fabrication. This process minimised on-site waste and sped up the construction program. We also optimized beam spacing for low-carbon concrete use and ensured all components were suitable for efficient delivery and installation.
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Sustainability is in our DNA and we have our own ambitious goals to achieve Net Zero as a business and with our designs. With innovative in-house monitoring tools, Walsh clients have seen on average reductions of 10-20% total embodied carbon, with some of our flagship work achieving 60-70% reductions compared with baseline figures.