The Halo at The Oval
14/07/2025
Berkeley’s Innovative New Building Designs
Discover three developments that showcase the latest in architectural thinking, creating inspiring homes in harmony with their surroundings.
By Iain Aitch
Creating successful homes is a question of alchemy for Berkeley, with design playing a major part. The look and feel of each building is individually crafted by top architects, considering usage, location, history, community and ecology, always ensuring that beauty and originality play a major part.
These unique modern buildings draw on the latest in architectural thinking and innovative engineering solutions, with the chosen architects always incorporating nature and considering how the carbon footprint of a build can be reduced. Each development is anything but uniform or identical, taking into account its surroundings, neighbourhoods and existing buildings on site.
Here we look at three new innovative developments, which show how all the right elements come together to create wonderful places to live.
The Halo at Oval Village: A Sporting View
Cricket fans will need no introduction to Gasholder Number 1, which is in plain view as bowlers take their run-up at The Kia Oval cricket ground in South London. Constructed between 1877 and 1892, this iconic example of Victorian industrial architecture was one of five such structures built from 1847 onwards next to the home of Surrey County Cricket Club.
Now redundant, the Grade II Listed Gasholder Number 1 is part landmark, part challenge for architects, as those at Rolfe Judd found out when they were commissioned to turn it into residences that married modernity with history, as part of the wider Oval Village, an ambitious regeneration project. The Halo is the result, offering outstanding contemporary design and a match-viewing platform on level five, as well as from the penthouses.
The Halo is the crown jewel of Oval Village, a new kind of neighbourhood, with community at its heart, which provides an oasis of calm in the heart of London. This former brownfield site will offer over 1,300 homes with landscaped gardens and public spaces, shops, cafés and restaurants, as well as extensive residents’ facilities including gym, swimming pool, spa, private cinema, workspace and lounge. All next to one of the most famous sporting venues in the capital.
Image: Enjoy views of the Kia Oval cricket ground at The Halo
“The Halo building sits within the listed gasholder, but we wanted to retain the views through it to the sky, which is the historic backdrop at the Oval,” says Jason Rudolph, the Director at Rolfe Judd who led on the project. “It is a unique form, which we have sliced at an angle that slopes down towards the cricket ground, creating views over the stumps. Whichever way you look, it is framed by the silhouette of the historic gasholder and the exterior of the building is white, so you get fantastic shadows of the structure cast across the façade.”
Rolfe Judd and Berkeley worked closely with Historic England to ensure that the integrity and design of the gasholder was retained, with construction taking place inside its structure. Its function also provided further inspiration, shaping the overall design of The Halo’s form.
“When operational, the gasholder would come up in three stages, changing its form as the demand and supply of gas fluctuated,” says Jason. “We have recreated the feel of this with a ribbed element of brickwork that runs up the building and emulates that extrusion. This scarring allows you to imagine the form being telescopically pulled up, as it used to be and the marks imagine the scraping that would have happened in the process.”
Outstanding apartment design, landscaping and materials all complement this architectural achievement that is set to become a renewed icon in its locale and across Test Match coverage globally.
The Walled Garden, Trent Park: Modernity Meets History
The historic wall that partly surrounds the central garden at Trent Park, on the edge of North London, has witnessed many changes over the years since its construction in the early 19th century. Most recently, it has seen the arrival of The Walled Garden phase, a new style of home that blends heritage with the future in the shape of architect Adrian Bower’s four- and five-bedroomed homes.
They are set within the magnificent 413-acre Trent Park estate, which showcases thoughtfully designed new builds alongside beautifully restored historic conversions, including The Royal Mews, a former Stable block, and the distinguished Grade II Listed The Mansion House. Exclusive to residents, the Lawn Club facilities feature a fully equipped gym housed in the elegantly restored orangery, offering views of the heated outdoor pool, as well as outdoor tennis courts and exquisitely landscaped gardens.
“The Walled Garden features family homes that are built in small terraces that create the recognisable form of the street,” says Adrian Bower, who is Residential Director at ADP Architecture. “They are large houses and we didn’t want to dominate the skyline, so we split the pitch of the roof to give us a modern, asymmetric profile. It is a modern twist that retains tradition at the same time.”
Image: The homes back on to a communal central garden
The gardens of the houses back on to the communal central garden, extending each home into a more open area with its own landscaping and central water feature. This creates a small park at the heart of the community, offering space for residents to socialise with neighbours. The design mixes the urban and suburban with the rural, combining the forms to create streets that sit comfortably in their green surroundings.
“The houses work with the heritage of the walled garden,” says Adrian. “They poke their head over the top of the wall, but the wall and the trees we have planted also screen the cars. The drives are the same colour as the houses, which was a conscious design choice to lessen their impact on the streets.
“Brick stores for refuse and recycling create a clean look, along with the green roofs of the storage buildings. The timber is matched on the front doors and garages, and we have created shadows across the brickwork. It’s about crafting quality homes that look great but are also full of light. We have big windows to bring that in, along with the views.”
Image: The Walled Gardens
Wandsworth Mills: A Bridge Between Past and Future
Creating a new urban village in the heart of London that is both modern and sensitive to local heritage architecture is no small challenge – especially when it involves spanning a river.
Design Director, Aine Kelly, is well aware of this, having overseen Wandsworth Mills, a mix of high- and low-rise homes bordered by the River Thames and the River Wandle in South West London. For her, the aim was to create a place that feels alive and connected to its environment, while also providing a tranquil setting for both the new community and their existing neighbours.
“We’ve expanded public space along the river by introducing scenic walkways and inviting places for people to hang out, and by bringing shops and restaurants to the riverfront, we will be drawing more visitors to enjoy the area. We are transforming both banks of the River Wandle and building two bridges to connect them,” says Aine.
“The vision is to create a seamless link from the neighbouring Old York Road in Wandsworth Town, through our site, across the river, and into the heart of Wandsworth,” adds Aine. “Although it’s a single development, it features five different architecture styles, from apartments to townhouses. It really feels as though we’re creating a village, not just building a development.”
Image: Barley Walk at Wandsworth Mills
That said, contemporary tastes are by no means overlooked. The Retreat, an exclusive residents’ club within the Wandsworth Mills’ 34-storey Artisan Tower, boasts over 15,000 square feet of amenities, including a two-storey Aqua Sanctuary featuring a lagoon pool, thermal spa, state-of-the-art gym, two private screening rooms, and a 24-hour hotel-style concierge.
In addition to bringing greenery indoors in the Aqua Sanctuary, Aine was eager to reintroduce nature to the riverside, creating a landscape that balances beauty with modernity, while also enhancing the Wandsworth Mills’ green credentials through its eco-conscious construction approach.
“As you move through the site, you’ll notice an abundance of trees and a beautifully considered planting scheme,” she says. “We’re already seeing swans and terrapins, with a variety of birds beginning to inhabit the spaces we’ve created. The brown roofs will also attract bats, bees and insects. The buildings at Wandsworth Mills look beautiful, but the surrounding nature truly brings the place to life.”
Find out more and arrange a visit to The Halo, Oval Village; The Walled Gardens, Trent Park and Wandsworth Mills.
Image: Aqua Sanctuary in The Retreat at Wandsworth Mills