City Reach
Location: City Reach, 24–26 Buckle Street and 19 Leman Street, Aldgate, London E1
Client: Esade International Ltd
Type: Building safety remediation of an eight-storey higher-risk residential building
Team: Bakers Construction Services (main contractor), OFI Contracts (cladding and fire-stopping), Ashton Fire (fire engineer), Kempton Smith (cost consultant)
Regulator: Building Safety Regulator (BSR), with inspections by Tower Hamlets building control
Brief
City Reach, formerly Buckle Street Studios, is an eight-storey residential building on the corner of Buckle Street and Leman Street in Aldgate, with flats above a basement office and restaurant.
Its external walls contained combustible cladding and insulation, and its balconies had timber decking. The brief was to remove both and replace them with non-combustible systems, with residents remaining in their homes throughout.
Response
We worked with Ashton Fire on a retrospective fire safety strategy, then designed the replacement: a new A2-rated rainscreen cladding system with cavity barriers, fire-stopping and cavity closers, aluminium balcony decking, and associated blockwork and render.
As a higher-risk building, the works needed building control approval from the Building Safety Regulator. We prepared and submitted the Gateway 2 application, including the compliance statement, construction control plan, change control plan and mandatory occurrence reporting plan, and received approval on 2 March 2026.
The works started on site in June 2026 under a JCT Design and Build contract with Bakers Construction Services, with OFI Contracts installing the cladding and fire-stopping. During construction we managed controlled changes through the BSR portal and kept the golden thread of building information up to date.
Our role
Architect and lead designer for the remediation, BSR applicant for Gateway 2 and Gateway 3, and contract administrator through construction to completion.
Status
The cladding and decking works are complete, with the contractor’s completion notice issued on 23 October 2026. Gateway 2 approval was received in March 2026 and the Gateway 3 completion application is now being submitted.
Facing cladding remediation or a BSR application? See our Remediation service, contact us or call 020 4526 8965.
Project Info
- Category: Refurbishment
- Location: Buckle Street / 19 Leman Street, Aldgate, London E1
