Stirling winner to ‘reinvent the terrace’ for 2012 legacy

Stirling prize-winning architect Maccreanor Lavington has been drafted in by the bosses of the Olympic Park Legacy Company to revive the humble terrace in London housing.

The OPLC has asked Maccreanor Lavington, the Anglo-Dutch practice involved in the Stirling-winning Accordia development in Cambridge, to re-invent the commonest central London house type – the terrace.

About 10,000 homes will be built in the Olympic park in the years following the 2012 Games. The OPLC is now coming to the end of a review of the original masterplan by Allies and Morrison, Edaw and KCAP.

Andrew Altman, chief executive of the OPLC, said the review was partly prompted by the need for more houses, rather than flats, and more of a London “feel”.

Altman said: “I looked at the plans and the first thing that struck me was they didn’t look like a piece of London that I’d recognise. So I asked Maccreanor Lavington to have a look, and see whether we can’t create something that looks more like a modern version of the traditional London terrace.”

Altman, an American, said he recognised that other people might have different views, and said the ideas would be made public in the summer. Once the Games are over, the OPLC is likely to sell individual plots to developers. Altman said it would use its land ownership to force developers to adopt the house types.

The development would put the Olympic park legacy in stark contrast not only to much contemporary housing, but also to the 2,800-home athletes’ village. This is designed around a standardised block system.

Richard Lavington, partner at Maccreanor Lavington, said: “We’re very enthusiastic about the role terraces can have in building a new piece of city.”