Metro Central Heights

This project optimized the living spaces and substantially improved the thermal and energy performance of a flat in Metro Central Heights in London. We followed the Passivhaus design, installed the MVHR ventilation system and wireless sensors to monitor temperature and moisture.

The property is a 3rd floor flat with 2 bedrooms, (one with an en-suite shower), a bathroom, and an open plan living room and kitchen. The floor area is approximately 56sqm.

The property was Grade II listed in 2013.

History of the flat

Metro Central Heights, formerly Alexander Fleming House, was built in 1959-67 as offices for the Ministry of Health by the architect and designer Ernö Goldfinger RA (1902-1987). It was constructed in two phases, phase one, Blocks A-C (1959-62); phase two (1964-67), the southernmost Block D, Block E including the Elephant and Castle public house, and the detached Odeon Cinema. Initially designed by Goldfinger for Arnold Lee of Fortpost Investments (later Imry Properties), it was acquired by the Government during the early stages of construction of phase one, and completed for the Ministry of Health. The ground floor corner of Block A was laid out as the Ministry of Health Showroom.

The Ministry of Health vacated Alexander Fleming House in 1989 and it remained empty until it was converted to residential use in 2002 and renamed Metro Central Heights. The cinema was demolished in 1988 and replaced by a residential tower in 2004. Alexander Fleming House was designed as part of the wider redevelopment of Elephant and Castle, a scheme first set out in the County of London Plan of 1943 by Patrick Abercrombie and JH Forshaw, later modified in the 1951 County of London Development Plan and realised on a reduced scale in the late 1950s. Goldfinger himself prepared a scheme in 1960 which was never implemented but did inform later decisions for the area. Alexander Fleming House was Goldfinger’s largest project and in his view his major work. It endorsed his post-war interpretation for the city, an exploration of the philosophy that, amongst other issues, addressed the social and physical relationship between tall buildings and low-rise development, that influenced the important Brownfield and Cheltenham Estates of 1965 and 1968-71 (Balfron Tower, listed Grade II; Trellick Tower, listed Grade II*; Cheltenham Estate, listed Grade II). Alexander Fleming House received acclaim at the time it was built, receiving the RIBA Bronze Award for best building of the year in London in 1964.