Carpenters Estate
Building Trust International
Accommodation and support services integrated with training and employment
It is not simply a lack of affordable homes that leads to an individual or family becoming homeless but a host of systemic issues. For this reason, support workers and community action groups advocate solutions tailored to individual circumstances.
The proposal looks at site-specific strategies to incubate projects within communities while providing long-term accommodation and support, employment and training. Rather than a temporary fix, the goal is long-term benefits associated with tackling homelessness head on through support and engagement with communities – increasing opportunities for local people, tackling anti-social behaviour, transforming blighted urban areas and increasing the mix of uses in residential estates.
The case study focus is the Carpenters Estate in the London Borough of Newham, which has the highest rate of homelessness of any local authority in England. Despite this, many of the homes in the Estate lie empty as tenants are decanted to make way for future redevelopment. Carpenters Community Centre currently operates a food bank and the Stratford winter homeless shelter while next to the Centre is the leading provider of construction crafts education in the UK, the Building Crafts College. Building on the Estate’s existing infrastructure, the proposal creates a range of new and refurbished efficient buildings that offer accommodation, support services, training, employment and social space.
Developed in conversation with the Carpenters Community Centre, the Building Crafts College and charities including Greater Change, YMCA, Shelter and Habitat for Humanity, the proposal channels part of Newham Council’s funding for the refurbishment of the estate through the College to train residents in construction skills – leading to paid work on the wider Estate refurbishment.
Supra Architecture
Veljko Buncic, Architect
Ben Child, Design / Illustration
Building Trust International
David Cole, Director of Building Trust International
