Bear Gardens

Bear Gardens links and adapts three 19th-century warehouses in a dense Southwark conservation area into a 75-room boutique aparthotel, with mixed-use ground floor accommodation for the neighbouring Globe Theatre and Bell English Language School. Through carefully considered restoration and modern intervention, the three principal buildings have been given a new identity that celebrates the colourful history of the site, while the eight-storey scheme delivers a contemporary urban experience that remains sensitive to its conservation context.

The courtyard to the front, historically a site for bear-baiting, has been retained and restored to preserve this remnant of the medieval street pattern. The buildings were originally home to E. Newman and Sons, makers of card patterns for weaving looms, and that industrial heritage informs the reimagining. The entrance to the BREEAM-excellent aparthotel uses the original retained facade of part of the existing Empire warehouse and 1 to 2 Rose Alley, opening into an impressive double-height foyer. The interiors offer a combination of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, all bespoke in layout, with a 24-hour concierge, gym, pantry and co-working space.

On the lower floors, board-formed concrete and exposed brick walls sit alongside original-style arched metal framed windows. The upper floors are lighter in composition, mixing clear and obscure floor-to-ceiling glazing with rich bronze circular rods to create a strong vertical rhythm to the facade. The upper floors of the Rose Alley elevation introduce perforated bronze screens for privacy, a reference to the loom patterns once manufactured in the warehouse. Extensive solar studies informed the massing, ensuring daylight is maximised throughout. The ground floor mixed-use units are leased to Bell English Language School to the north and to the Globe Theatre to the south, linking directly to the Sackler Education Building.

Project size: 5,500 m2. Site size: 5,912 m2. Completed 2018. Architect: SPPARC. Delivered with Southwark planners, Macro Investments and Native. Photographs by Ed Reeve.