Project
Stone Studios
Year
2016–2022
Client
Groveworld and PTE Property / Telford Homes
Number of homes
120
Homes per hectare
287
Local authority
London Borough of Hackney
Awards
Housing Design Project Award 2017 - Winner
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Stone Studios is a new mixed-use city block located adjacent to Hackney Wick Station in East London. With land assembly, planning and design by Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE) in partnership with Groveworld, and delivery by Telford Homes, the scheme comprises 120 loft apartments - including dual-aspect deck-access homes - alongside shops, a café–restaurant, and more than 3,000m² of affordable creative workspace delivered by Creative Land Trust, their flagship project of now three permanent affordable studio sites. It represents a key element of the London Legacy Development Corporation’s (LLDC) strategy to regenerate Hackney Wick.
Situated at the heart of the emerging Hackney Wick Neighbourhood Centre, the development creates a direct pedestrian link beneath the railway, connecting the cultural hub of Wallis Road with the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The scheme thoughtfully references elements of the area’s industrial heritage, providing high-quality homes alongside new studios for artists and small creative businesses.
Stone Studios also reflects a wider shift in how London’s creative infrastructure is being secured for the long term. Creative Land Trust, which delivered the workspace within the development, exists to protect the future of art-making in London by securing permanent, affordable studios for artists, ensuring that creative communities remain part of neighbourhoods such as Hackney Wick.
In 2021, Creative Land Trust acquired 33,000 square feet of ground and lower-ground floor space from Telford Homes. This marked not only its first studio purchase, but a significant step in securing this space in perpetuity as affordable workspace for artists.
The scheme consists of five interlinked buildings, arranged around a new public route – Wallis Yard – leading directly into the rebuilt Overground station. Above the active ground-floor workshops and retail spaces, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom loft apartments and duplexes provide a varied residential offer.
Artists are part of the essential infrastructure that makes cities vibrant, distinctive and economically successful. At Stone Studios, we are not only providing affordable workspace – we are securing permanent space for artists in the heart of Hackney Wick, ensuring that creative communities can continue to thrive here for the long term. This is exactly the kind of intervention needed if London is to remain one of the world’s great creative cities.
Yves Blais, Operations Manager at Creative Land Trust
Blues n Lonesome Denim studio, Otto Alexnader, photo by Monika Szolle Photography
Resting Reef studio, Louise Skajem and Aura Murillo, photo by Monika Szolle Photography
Stone Studios was designed by Pollard Thomas Edwards with Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners as planning consultants. The scheme received planning permission from the LLDC in May 2015, following a five-year design and consultation process developed in parallel with the wider Hackney Wick Central masterplan.
The site was acquired by East London Regeneration (Wallis South) Ltd, a joint venture between Groveworld and PTE Property, and sold to Telford Homes (TH) with consent for 120 apartments and around 55,000 sq ft of office, retail, leisure and affordable workspace.
Stockwool was appointed as delivery architect, construction began in 2017 and it was completed in 2022, following the upgrade of Hackney Wick Station.
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