Jestico + Whiles architects win planning

London based architects Jestico + Whiles’s scheme for a 116-unit foyer at Wakering Road in the London Borough of Barking has received planning approval. Foyers provide accommodation and training for disadvantaged young people – aged from 16 to 24 – who are in housing need, to help them achieve long-term independence. The building is based around an enclosed garden, formed by an L-shaped block and an existing embankment. The ground and first floors contain training rooms, staff offices and communal facilities, enabling transparency to the surrounding streets. Above this, seven storeys of residential bedsits are arranged either side of a glazed circulation ‘spine’. A rainscreen cladding in an abstract composition of vertical panels diffuses the repetitive nature of the bedsits beyond. Construction is set to begin this coming January and aims to be complete by January 2008.