Alice Billings House, Stratford
Alice Billings House, Stratford
We undertook an extensive assessment of Alice Billings House in Stratford, East London, built in 1905 to provide accommodation for firemen from the West Ham Fire Brigade. The North Block, featuring a practice and hose drying tower, was added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register in 2019.
We established the building’s historical development and assessed the condition and arrangement of the site as it survived. Following our work, the building was designated Grade II listed in 2017 and our report was used to inform the official list description.
The building is a rare example of the incorporation of a practice/hose drying tower into purpose-built fireman’s accommodation that is separate from the fire station building and is an important example of an early-C20 provision of purpose-built housing representative of the increased professionalism of fire brigades nationwide.
In 2023, after being vacant for over 10 years, Creative Land Trust acquired the buildings and will bring them back to life with the assistance of a £470,000 development grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund funding towards a £2.7m regeneration project.
The project will save the historic buildings and create a new bustling space that will bring creatives together. There will also be: studio space for around 80 artists and makers; a new exhibition space that can be used for community activities and functions; a community café; landscaped accessible courtyard garden open to the public; and an education programme including local schools, apprenticeships and artist bursaries. The project will also work with the local community and Newham Archive to celebrate the story of Alice Billing, a local Victorian sanitary inspector. A digital archive will capture the stories of the building and site.
Client: London Borough of Newham