Mowat & Company has secured planning permission to retrofit a cluster of commercial premises in east London to create a mixed-use development with a “tiny forest” at its heart.

The practice’s proposals for Benyon Properties will add an extra storey to a warehouse building in Forest Road, Hackney, that served the haberdashery business William Gee. The firm has been trading in the area since 1906 and still operates from Kingsland Road, at the western boundary of the site.

The 1,281sq m scheme will create a total of nine new homes, as well as refurbished retail space and new creative studios.

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