Tower Hamlets Town Hall celebrates grand opening in former Royal London Hospital

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ new Town Hall opened its doors to the public. In early February, the borough council and staff took up residence in their new home, which has transformed the previously vacant site of the 18th Century Royal London Hospital complex to create a welcoming and accessible hub for civic life in the borough.

This Grade-II listed building has been redeveloped as a civic centre that will anchor the wider regeneration of the area. With a ground floor dedicated to public use, residents can access services in this central location with nearby links to Whitechapel’s transport hub.

The project refurbished the former Royal London Hospital building, which has been unoccupied since 2012, whilst retaining the historic Victorian façade of the Grocers Wing and constructing a new z-shaped wraparound extension to consolidate London Borough of Tower Hamlets staff members in a central location.

Working alongside AHMM architects, Elliott Wood designed intelligent structural and civil engineering solutions to sensitively adapt and extend the building for its new purpose. In our approach we prioritised the reuse and conservation of the existing structure and materials, as well as implementing advanced strategies for water harvesting and reuse.

The building has evolved and changed over its long history, and we sought to preserve that history as far as possible, particularly through the retention of its Victorian features and remaining Georgian structure, providing strengthening works where necessary.

“The vision for Tower Hamlets Town Hall, and the historic significance of the site, made this an incredibly complex and exciting project to work on. I’m so proud of what the client and design team have achieved together, and I hope that Tower Hamlets’ residents are just as thrilled with it, now that it’s open for business,” comments Gemima Walker, Associate at Elliott Wood.

The regeneration of this iconic site in the heart of Tower Hamlets for civic use has created a new community hub that will feature in the ongoing regeneration of Whitechapel. We are thrilled that Tower Hamlets Town Hall has brought this historic building back into public life for people to use and enjoy for many years to come.