A new staircase and loft room, made from old‍ ‍trees

The project consists of a new loft room in a Warner House in Walthamstow, with a staircase and new joinery made from old trees. The mixed species palette of London Plane, Hornbeam, Elm and Beech was supplied by Fallen and Felled, utilising timber from London’s street trees that would otherwise be destined for the chipper. The muted colours of the different tones of timber, including spalted pieces, combine together with cork flooring, lime-washed bricks, and a combination of lime-based paint and bare multi-finish plaster to create a calm office space for the residents, that looks over London’s treetops.

Tapping into hyperlocal circular economies can reduce waste streams and carbon emissions in construction. Working with Fallen and Felled, we were able to rescue timber for the project which would otherwise end up chipped or burned, support local circular economies, and prevent more new materials from being produced.

We used a standard softwood staircase as this was a structural element that street tree timber, with its many imperfections, nails and shrapnel, would not have been suitable for. This saved money, and also allowed us to order the base stair, while plans for the rest of the design were still being developed. 

Walthamstow consists of many rows of Warner Houses and Flats, which tend to be 2 or 2.5 bedrooms. This property is located on a conservation area, which limits roof development, but it has an unusually tall roofspace. We negotiated with the council that a bank of four top-hung rooflights, although less typical, would negate the need for a dormer box, but still make the room habitable, bringing in lots of light and opening up the space.

Most trees in London that need to be felled are chipped and burned, but Fallen and Felled save the timber, milling it into oards that can be repurposed beautiful things that lock carbon in. They worked with us to develop a design where each piece could be milled by their own joiner, including a silhouette of the existing stair spindle, and then the pieces were easily assembled on site by the main contractor.