History

The estate was built by the William Sutton Trust, established in 1901 with a legacy from Victorian philanthropist William Sutton. Sutton bequeathed the equivalent of £230m in today’s money to house the poor, much to the annoyance of his family, who disputed the will for several years.

Built in Edwardian Baroque style with decorative motifs the Sutton Dwellings cover an area of 1.5 hectares and lie within the Chelsea Estates Conservation Area. Completed in 1913 it comprises 15 five-storey buildings providing 462 homes, and is one of the earliest examples of purpose-built social housing in the UK.

The next hundred years

Clarion secured planning permission in January 2021 to undertake a £37m refurbishment of the estate. This included bringing four mothballed blocks back into use, creating 81 much needed homes (all for social rent); new public realm through the whole estate, including new green space and community facilities; and upgrades to all the existing homes. Clarion’s aim is to secure the future of the estate, ensuring the history, stories and beauty of these historic buildings can be enjoyed for generations to come.

The refurbishment

The refurbishment includes an extensive landscape transformation of the entire estate, creating green spaces where there were previously none.

The four mothballed blocks fell well short of modern standards and have been completely refurbished, retaining the envelope but completely remodelling the interiors. This includes a mix of one, two, three and four-bedroom flats specifically designed to match the needs of local residents. In the process, Clarion has made the homes larger, more energy efficient and lighter for families to enjoy.

Residents in the remaining 303 homes have benefitted from an extensive programme of upgrades including new kitchens and bathrooms, as well as improvements to communal areas, door entry systems and lifts.
An integrated play trail will weave through the estate, and areas between buildings will become people-friendly shared spaces with 23 new trees and attractive planting, as well as improved bin and bike storage. A horticultural apprenticeship has been created to look after these new green spaces.

Sustainability

The refurbishment programme sets a benchmark for sustainability in historic buildings and pairs old with new. Ground source heat pumps provide energy for the four refurbished blocks, which involved drilling twenty seven 200m deep bore holes.

We took a fabric first approach, generating a 38% carbon reduction and 46% energy saving over existing buildings.

The Sutton Dwellings was the first urban project to receive Building with Nature accreditation, acknowledging the role that well designed green infrastructure plays in people's health and wellbeing, the sustainable management of water, and wildlife and ecology.