Black vertical timber cladding on the gabled upper floors of 15 Blue Lion Place above a dark brick base, Southwark

15 Blue Lion Place. Black-finished Siberian larch cladding. Southwark, London SE1.

The team behind Dmitro Development worked with W. L. West & Sons on the supply of the Siberian larch cladding for the gabled upper floors of the Electoral Reform Society's Southwark headquarters.

01 · The black larch gable of 15 Blue Lion Place, Southwark.

At a glance

Package
Black-finished Siberian larch cladding
Length
Over 6,500 linear metres
Client
Electoral Reform Society
Completed
2019

The larch forms the whole upper envelope of 15 Blue Lion Place, a compact gabled office near Bermondsey Street and Long Lane: vertical battens rising to the ridge and wrapping around the tall windows.

Part of: Cladding and facade

Pen sketch of a gabled building with vertical battens on the upper floors, two stacked windows and a large ground-floor window, with people at street level

02

A hand sketch of the gable: battened upper floors, stacked windows and a solid base.

Completed gable of 15 Blue Lion Place, black vertical larch battens over a grey brick base with stacked steel-framed windows, beside a warehouse conversion

03

The finished gable: black larch battens above the grey brick plinth.

Close view of black vertical larch battens around a tall grid of steel-framed windows at 15 Blue Lion Place

04

45 × 45 mm Unsorted-grade Siberian larch.

Square-section battens run vertically across the upper floors and step around each stacked window, with a fine horizontal joint between runs.

Cut, planed and treated before it reached site

W. L. West & Sons cut the Siberian larch to width and planed two faces. PTG Treatments then applied a fire-retardant treatment, and every length was finished black on all four sides.

Mill operative in ear defenders feeding a length of larch into a cutting machine, with offcuts stacked behind

05

Larch lengths fed through the saw at the mill.
Strapped bundles of pale cut larch stacked on bearers in a timber shed

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Strapped bundles of cut larch, stacked in the timber shed.
Black larch-clad gable lettered 15 Blue Lion Place SE1 at the end of a paved lane, between brick buildings, with bicycles by the fence

07

Lettering fixed straight onto the black larch.

At the end of the pedestrian lane, the building's number and name, 15 Blue Lion Place SE1, are fixed in white letters across the battens. The black timber reads against the orange and yellow brick of its neighbours.

The building

Five storeys, from planning approval to occupation in under two years.

The Society bought the site in 2016. Southwark's Planning Sub-Committee approved the demolition of the existing building and a new office in March 2018. Construction began that November, and the Society moved in in January 2020.

Trehearne Architects kept the palette to brick, black timber and large Crittall-style windows. P3R Engineers designed the services around individual heat-pump systems on each floor.

  • Eaves14 metres
  • Ridge17.6 metres
  • Footprint100.5 square metres
  • Office floorspace496 square metres
  • BREEAMVery Good, 59.2%
15 Blue Lion Place across a red-brick paved courtyard, its black larch gable beside a converted warehouse with stone piers and steel windows

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The gable across the paved courtyard, beside a converted brick and stone warehouse.

Side elevation of 15 Blue Lion Place with a tall steel-framed window rising through grey brick into black larch battens, beside a warehouse conversion with a parked car

09

A tall steel-framed window runs up the side elevation into the larch.

15 Blue Lion Place in evening light, lit office floors behind stacked windows in the black larch gable, a cyclist in the courtyard

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The gable in evening light, the office floors lit from within.

Black larch gable lettered 15 Blue Lion Place SE1 under a grey sky, seen from a paved lane with a planter and cycle stands

11

Under an overcast sky, the ribbed texture of the battens reads across the whole gable.

Inside, before fit-out

The structure, glazing and interiors are the wider project team's work; the larch cladding outside was this package.

Stair rising beside an old brick wall towards a gridded steel-framed window, timber balustrade and exposed joists overhead

12

The stair rising towards a steel-framed window, during construction.
Full-height glass-block window glowing between boarded metal-framed walls under exposed galvanised joists

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A glass-block window between boarded walls and exposed joists, before fit-out.

A gable of black Siberian larch.

15 Blue Lion Place, London SE1 4PU

Architect
Trehearne Architects
Main contractor
MAC Interiors
Timber supplier
W. L. West & Sons
Fire-retardant treatment
PTG Treatments