Hackney warehouse conversion: the ingenious East End flat that multitasks as bachelor pad and family home

Exposed concrete, poured resin floors, a wall of walnut and a galley kitchen in a white powder-coated steel pod. This is a fabulous transformation.

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Philippa Stockley27 August 2019

Robert Van Doorn's flat in Hackney is like a glossy magazine’s take on living in a modern, stylish and versatile space. It blends dark walnut with glossy white resin and exposed concrete.

But like so many Londoners whose homes must adapt to their lifestyle, Robert’s three teenage children, Robin, Senna, and Pim, often stay, so the flat has to work for four people as well as for one.

When the Dutch financial consultant bought the single-level flat, it looked very different. One long side was irregularly shaped and indented, wasting space.

Purplish carpet, a dreary conventional kitchen and white walls throughout were bland and uninspiring, while the ceilings were just 8ft 6in high.

What it cost

1,080sq ft flat in 2015: £480,000
Money spent: £160,000
Estimated value now: £770,000

However, when Robert, 49, poked a cautious hole through the plasterboard he found handsome concrete, plus a huge void above the dropped ceilings. It turned out that a fifth of his new flat was hidden away.

Four years on, exposed concrete walls flaunt builders’ scribbles. The floor is gleaming white poured resin. Metal conduits give an industrial edge, and the odd-shaped areas have become suave slate-and-mirrored bathrooms.

A wide, white corridor runs front to back, with a seamless-looking, very tall floor-to-ceiling wall of walnut down one flank. But look again, and full-height doors open on near-invisible lugged edges into the master bedroom en suite and a second bathroom.

At the end, what looks like a continuation of the walnut wall turns out to be a huge door that swings across to close off an office space. With its principle wall painted deep blue, seats that turn into single beds, and a bespoke desk, this room can be open to the rest of the flat, or serve as a guest bedroom.

The floor-to-ceiling wall of walnut includes doors to the master bedroom en suite and the second bathroom
Alan Williams

At the heart of the flat a bespoke galley kitchen sits in a white powder-coated steel pod, with mezzanine storage on top reached by in-built steel stairs, and extra cupboard space in its outer wall.

Bookending it and open to the long corridor, at one end a seating area has a projector for TV. At the other, a dining area gathers around a table repurposed from a Chinese junk, while an upholstered bench seat scattered with bright Christian Lacroix cushions offers more storage.

Not an inch has been wasted here. Robert bought his flat in spring 2015. He and his wife were divorcing, but he wanted to stay in the area where they’d lived for years, so their children could visit easily.

Though he likes period houses, he also likes clean-lined modern styles, and looked for that, as well as flexible space, and a full or partial refurbishment.

The flat dated to 2000. He lived in it for a couple of years, then an architect friend recommended a young architecture practice, Merrett Houmøller, for the makeover and Peter Merrett visited.

“I had a mood board,” Robert says. And he definitely wanted a wooden wall running right through the flat: “That was my baby, I spent an absolute fortune on it.” It packs a visual punch, works as a spine and does excellent things spatially, so it’s worth every penny.

The architects came back with eight sketches which included a kitchen pod that moved around as the design evolved. It is really striking. A small spanner in the works was that to conform with regulations, the boiler had to move.

Otherwise, planning was straightforward — though the build was not.

The flat was stripped right back to its concrete bones and the job was originally scheduled to take a tight 11 weeks, starting in September 2017. But when the walnut panels arrived the flat wasn’t ready for them, so they had to be expensively stored.

Robert changed builders after three months and his new team began just before Christmas, finishing in April last year.

This flat now looks so serene, elegant and trendy — a difficult combination to pull off — that it’s hard to imagine any problems at all. But minimal finishes have to be absolutely spot-on. So when concrete fibres migrated into the first resin pour, it was done again.

As for the walnut wall, it had to align meticulously. It’s also so heavy that three men could hardly handle the giant door, while special hinges had to be used. “The hinges alone cost £1,500.”

But at last the apartment was done — and what a transformation. Robert and his children really enjoy it.

The architects are to be congratulated on this ingenious, practical and glamorous job that fitted the client’s brief perfectly and turned an ordinary flat into a spectacular one that really works for his lifestyle. It’s a game changer.

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