The Palm House

Healthy homes in which to grow

The first, purpose built shared living space which invites residents to ‘sleep in your room, live in the building’.

Previous shared living schemes adapted existing buildings or planning permissions to facilitate shared living; this is different. Through thoughtful design and extensive research, we’ve created a new building, with 222 high-quality private studios and superb shared amenities, helping support residents’ wellbeing and professional growth.

(Our research into this new building typology helped shape the GLA’s guidance for large-scale, purpose built shared living, published earlier this year.)

Man at reception/communal area at Palm House

Amenities include workspace, event space and a screening room (all bookable on the residents’ app) as well as a library, gym and a cafe. There’s a generous shared kitchen for cooking and dining and two roof terraces, which can be used for small gatherings. All designed to encourage interaction, socialising and friendship.

Man sat outside on the roof terrace at Palm House

Distinctive design features include circular windows in some of the residential units – a playful nod to Grigory Barkhin’s Constructivist Izvestiya publishing and print building – and graffiti art, which illuminates the exposed concrete of the reception, gym and circulation cores, for added fun.

Staircase with colourful interior design

The Palm House sets the bar very high for shared living development. We are immensely proud of this project and it stands as a beacon for regeneration in the local area.

Project name: The Palm House

Location: Harrow, London, UK

Service: Social research

Value: £20M – £50M

Scope: Architecture

Clients: Halcyon Development Partners

Status: Complete

Completion date: 2022

Number of homes: 100 - 500

Operator: Folk Co-living

Funder: OLIV (DTZi Investors)

Contractor: Claritas Group