Restoring The Goodsyard’s Heritage

We received consent in 2024 to restore five historic buildings on Sclater Street – the old Mission Hall, a Victorian-era building and three former Weavers’ Cottages.

These buildings are part of the historic fabric of the neighbourhood and the proposals seek to protect and restore the buildings, as part of the redevelopment of The Goodsyard.

Former Mission Hall

The plans will remove unsympathetic extensions and a 20th century brick wall that currently screens the historic building from Sclater Street, to give the building more prominence. 

The existing brickwork will be repaired, the existing ornate roof trusses retained, and the slate roof re-instated with new rooflights. The historic window openings will be re-opened and glazed. New glazed entrances will be created at the west end of the building to bring more light into the building and establish a better relationship between the building and Sclater Street. Once the renovations have been completed, the Mission Hall will offer the community a new café.

Victorian-era building

The plans will restore the historic fabric of the building to provide three residential apartments above space on the ground floor for a shop. The building currently has modern extensions, which detract from the building and these will be removed.

New sympathetic shopfronts, in keeping with the area and the period of the historic building will be installed.

Weavers' Cottages

The Weavers’ Cottages are derelict, having been badly damaged by a fire some years ago. The plans propose the complete restoration of the main body of these historic buildings to create a co-working office space, but the outriggers to the rear are too badly damaged to be saved. Instead, they will be replaced with a modern, three storey glass and corten extension, which will accommodate the services for the office, such as lifts and WC, enabling the main buildings to retain their original proportions and character. 

Original features, such as roof structures, brick arches, fireplaces and chimney pots will be repaired and reinstated where condition allows. 

New corten gates and wall cladding will be added to 76 Sclater Street, currently vacant, to provide a new pedestrian access (named Cygnet Lane) to the rest of The Goodsyard.

View from Sclater Street looking East.

Delivering a new office building 

 

Following community consultation in 2023, we gained consent for a Reserved Matters Application for one of the office buildings within the consented masterplan.

The first office building will provide 36,000 sq m of high-quality office space, which will include affordable workspace for small and medium sized businesses to support local enterprises. At ground level, 600 sq m of new space for shops fronting Bethnal Green Road and Shoreditch High Street will enliven the space and there will be a new connection between Brick Lane and Shoreditch High Street called Middle Road.

View of the office buildings in the background. 

What’s next? 

We are now working with the London Borough of Hackney, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and the GLA to secure the implementation of the planning permission for the entire site.

We are looking to start construction work on the office building later this year. In the meantime, we continue to celebrate the heritage of The Goodsyard by opening it up to the public through tours of the Braithwaite Arches and participating in the Open House Festival 2025. Detials of these tours will be made available in due course. 

Future consultations

We are developing detailed plans for the new homes and public spaces of The Goodsyard and will let the local community know about further exhibition events in due course.

In the meantime, you can sign up to our project mailing list on the Get involved page

Our consultation events in June 2023.