Pump House

Product used: Bricks

Brick type: White Engobe 

Architect: Common Ground Architecture 

Brick Award: 2021 Small Housing Development Award  

The Concept  

Pump House reinvigorates a prominent corner plot in the centre of South Norwood by creating 14 new homes and a new library two minutes’ walk from Norwood Junction Station. The site had previously been used as a surface level car park and had been vacant for nearly 30 years. 

Our Solution  

As the first residential scheme completed by Common Ground Architecture, and forming part of Brick By Brick’s Smaller Sites Programme – a scheme designed to accelerate housing delivery in Croydon – ensuring the project was delivered on time, and with significant aesthetic appeal key. 

Pump House 

Irina Hughes, Design Advisor at Ibstock, explains: “The project exemplifies what we set out to achieve; characterful and robust homes that people will be proud of for generations to come. Conceived as two interlocking forms, the symmetrical white façade references the former Art Deco cinema that once stood on the site next door. The recessed red brick detail in the white brick creates a bold motif that references the geometric fenestration patterns in the old Odeon. The red brick element that wraps the corner is more humble in nature and makes reference to the Victorian context.”