One Pool Street

The first building to open at the UCL East campus, One Pool Street comprises accommodation and learning on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford.

“A home for students on the park, communal living with over 500 suites.

Project Overview

A mixed residential and learning building at UCL East campus. One Pool Street gives students the chance to build a new student community while joining the wider community at Stratford, Hackney Wick, and the Olympic Park. The building has a distinctive 'double podium' of residential towers on top of a plinth hosting learning and research facilities. The residences come with a range of amenities for the modern student, including a cinema, rooftop garden, and games tables with en-suite bedrooms, bike storage, and on-site security. All of this is located at the junction of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the new "East Bank" cultural quarter, with multiple public transport connections to every part of London.

 

Each set of bedrooms at One Pool Street share a communal living room and kitchen, private and public space blend in the atrium, so students have meeting and collaboration space on their doorstep.

Want to move in? See what's available at One Pool Street

Impact

One Pool Street is not just a residence for students. True to the spirit of UCL's interdisciplinary approach to learning, and embodying the pursuit of "useful knowledge", the first three floors host spaces for UCL's Global Disability Innovation Hub, creative studios, workshops, and a centre for production of robotics & autonomous systems. Bringing together staff and students engaged in the arts and sciences, to find the opportunities afforded by the latest technological developments. UCL East is UCL's new campus, but its approach is true to UCL's academic style since its foundation in 1826. 
 
As a London university, we appreciate that new parks and cultural hubs aren't made every day, and that the city is always changing in ways both small and large. The Urban room and Memory Archive at One Pool Street are spaces designed to catalogue and remember the ever-changing face of London as we experience it; to make a record of what it's like to live in London, as well as how London looks and sounds.
 
All of this is in the first three floors of One Pool Street, below the living quarters, and just a minute's walk from the "Vertical Neighbourhoods" of Marshgate.

Sustainability, Access, and Inclusion

One Pool Street has been built to be not just a welcoming home, but a base for inquisitive minds. Built with consideration for the environment, One Pool Street also enables students to learn about nature within the building and in the Olympic Park. There are roof-top gardens for residents and separate ‘living labs’ for research and study. Non-accessible rooftops have been sewn with green roofs which enhance biodiversity and also help to manage drainage by slowing water run-off.

The design of the building achieved BREEAM 'Excellent' ratings, which involved assessing and minimising a wide variety of environmental impacts. This includes energy performance, materials efficiency, water usage as well as considering the well-being of building users. Ben Stubbs, Head of Sustainable Built Environment at UCL is keen to highlight how One Pool Street enables active and sustainable travel: “We are proud that One Pool Street achieved high BREEAM ratings. This includes maximum credits in the transport section, by supporting students who wish to cycle, with extensive cycle parking and facilities. This complements the priorities in UCL's sustainability strategy and encourages links within the local community and nature.”  

The Pool Street team focussed on ‘fabric first’ to maximise energy efficiency and the quality of time spent in One Pool Street. This includes high-performance insulation, airtight construction, and efficient mechanical ventilation to keep the whole building comfortable all year round. That people feel good was part of the wider vision for UCL East. No matter what you need to do, or which facilities you need to use, the building offers step-free access from the front door of the building to the front door of guests' rooms. This equity of access reduces the barriers to use, so everyone can feel at home here.