The 13,000 square-foot, pavilion-style structure draws inspiration from traditional boat houses, reflecting its canal-side setting and maritime use. Sea Cadet training spaces and boat facilities sit at ground level, directly linking to the River Lee Navigation canal with a waterfront dock slipway that allows a boat to be driven through the base of the building to secure storage. A timber dock with mooring points is situated between the building and the Lee Navigation.

Echoing boathouse typology, the upper floor is set back from the lower floor and houses flexible public areas designed to support exhibitions, events, and educational programs. The upper level will be used to host community learning programs related to the issues of recycling and waste reduction in major cities. Here, groups can learn about the impact individuals can have on reducing waste streams and ways to participate in emerging circular economies.

EcoPark House is not just functional – it is also environmentally responsive and architecturally distinctive. The shared entrance, reception spaces, and first-story public spaces are punctuated with full-height glazing, offering expansive views out onto nature within an industrial setting. And the building’s base is clad in dark, robust pre-cast concrete panels, to resist wear and tear due to boating activities, with marine-grade finishes to withstand its riverside location. 

Kebony Clear Dually Modified™ wood cladding and full-height windows were used on the upper level of the EcoPark House, giving the impression of a lightweight pavilion placed on top of a heavy pedestal. Over time the timber cladding will weather, leaving a gray patina and a softer finish within its river context across the decking, balustrades, and roof overhang soffits and the timber sliding screens on the first floor.

With no building services within the roof structure, the height of the building has also been minimized, and with passive design strategies including mixed-mode ventilation, solar shading, and green roofing, the building’s carbon footprint has been reduced. It also operates entirely off-grid, using renewable power generated through photovoltaic cells and ground-source heat pumps, in combination with highly efficient insulation, natural ventilation and sliding timber solar shades, acting as an architype for low-energy environmental solutions.

The North London Heat and Power Project at Edmonton EcoPark is the most significant public sector investment in waste facilities London has seen for a generation and will be the greenest Energy Recovery Facility in the country. EcoPark House is the third element of the masterplan to be complete following the opening of the Re-use and Recycling Centre (RRC) and the Recycling and Fuel Preparation Facility (RFPF). The site currently processes waste and recycling for over two million residents from seven north London boroughs. Under construction is the Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) which will have the capacity to process up to 700,000 tonnes of unrecyclable waste that might otherwise have been sent to landfill and replace an existing 1970s plant.