Bruce Grove Public Conveniences

The project renovates and extends a historic public convenience in the heart of Bruce Grove, North London and brings it back to life for a range of public uses. The public conveniences had been closed for decades and the building was in extremely poor condition, and on Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ register. Our project carefully reimagines the building – most of which is underground – as a public building for new community uses, with a free-to-use public toilet at its heart. Years of decay and adaptation were tackled in order to create a comfortable, intimate series of spaces that preserve the uniquely rich character of the building whilst allowing for new uses. At the same time, a new rear extension at ground level significantly extends the building and provides a new community room and cafe space. Designed to echo the railings around the building, it therefore blends into the background, allowing the much-loved ‘pavilion’ building to shine again on the High Street.

Along the way, our proposal received enthusiastic backing from Historic England’s advisors and Heritage at Risk team, as well as from local community activists who have been campaigning for the building’s sustainable reuse for many years. The finished building will shortly be let to an operator on a ‘social value lease’ to ensure the building delivers maximum value to its community, as well as a completely accessible public toilet facility.

As part of the project, substantial public engagement was carried out through workshops, walking tours, ‘Open House’ events and seminars. These sessions explored proposals for the building but also situated them in wider transformations of the district centre, as summarised in a series of strategic reports and studies produced as parallel commissions by DK-CM for the borough.