The Reach Apartments / Pitman Tozer Architects

On what was once proposed as a site for a drive-thru McDonald's in Thamesmead, an outer suburb of West London, The Reach provides well-designed, affordable new homes for over 170 residents. Its distinctive curved façade of banded red brickwork reinvigorates an existing local centre with a new sense of place, encouraging further regeneration and investment in the area. Brightly coloured projecting balconies animate the façades enclosing a generous south-facing communal garden. The Reach not only demonstrates how to densify London’s outer suburbs and help tackle the city’s housing crisis; it also delivers beautiful but affordable homes for local residents.