Platform 5 steams ahead on East End scheme

Construction has started on new a new east London office block that will provide headquarters for the Toynbee Hall charity.

The five-storey block, designed by Platform 5 Architects, will replace Toynbee Hall’s existing three-storey Profumo House offices, with the lower part of the new building housing the anti-poverty charity’s service centres. The upper floor offices will be let to commercial clients.

Created as part of wider redevelopment plans for Toynbee Hall’s Commercial Street estate, the new block includes a colonnaded entrance to its remaining grade II listed buildings. The original entrance was bombed and destroyed in World War Two.

Platform 5 director Peter Allen said decorative tiles used in the scheme were intended to echo the original hall’s traditional Victorian architecture, while rich brick patterning and polished concrete detail on the shop-front façade provided “further character” to Commercial Street.

“Designing new facilities for such a well-established and respected east London charity has been a privilege,” he said.

“We believe the architectural composition, detailing and rich materiality used within the new scheme will prove to be a positive addition to the sensitive surrounding environment, while offering a much needed focal point and improved facilities for the charity.”

Platform 5’s scheme supersedes proposals created for Toynbee Hall by Richard Griffiths, which were granted planning permission in 2014.

Other aspects of Toynbee Hall’s estate regeneration programme include the development of a new residential-led mixed-use block and the landscaping of Mallon Gardens, which also fronts Commercial Street.