Stratford Eye, London
The application of commercial construction techniques to affordable housing

Client: London and Quadrant Housing Trust
Location: Stratford, London

Project Description

The £35m project consists of:

  • a 19 storey tower block providing 64 units for open market sale
  • a linear block with separate cores, providing 96 units either for shared-ownership, sale or rent
  • a 5 storey 40,000 sq/ft office block, which will become L&Q regional head office.

The project is in a key location in Stratford Town centre and will overlook the Olympic Site.


Stratford Eye, LondonThe Challenge

The scheme was bought with a planning consent which defined the fundamental block shapes and layouts, and the location of the tower was squeezed between a 5 meter high boundary wall and the main line railway. This presented the team with a logistical challenge in how to erect the external cladding.

Scaffolding was not an option around the structure, neither were mast climbers. This left us having to look for a system which could be mostly constructed without using either.

We found that, with the exception of the windows, the envelope requirements of EPS08 are relatively straightforward to meet economically in timber-framed housing.

The Solution

Stratford Eye, LondonFollowing Wates’ experiences of unitised cladding in the construction of commercial buildings, it was apparent that there were several advantages in using a factory finished cladding unit. The units could be transported to site and lifted into position in their finished state.

Schneider GB’s advanced and technically sophisticated cladding system was chosen. This system uses an electric dolly which handles the unitised panels and moves them across the floor slab internally, allowing them to be lowered into their finished position. This afforded us the possibility of constructing most of the facade from within the structure.

The Process

Halfen fixing channels were cast into the base of the slab. The cladding bracket support angles were then bolted to the underside of the slab at every level. It is onto these support angles that each unitised panel is dropped into place and secured. The panels only commence after at least four floors of support angles are in place.

Stratford Eye, LondonSchneider built a steel gantry for off-loading their panels from the trailers. The trailers are left under the gantry until emptied and then replaced as necessary with new deliveries from Germany.

The gantry hoist lifts the panels and moves them into position to be clipped onto a monorail system for moving them behind the tower crane and into lifting position at the base of the tower.


Stratford Eye, LondonAnother moveable monorail system has been fixed to the slab edge several floors above the floor level to be clad. From this rail, the panels are lifted up the face of the building and brought into the building at the floor above the level to be clad. The panels are then moved into the building on a ceiling hung track and collected by the electric dolly. 


Stratford Eye, LondonThe dolly can be moved around the floor to whatever position is required, while holding the panel in a horizontal position. The panel is moved out of the face of the building and then pivoted into a vertical position.   

The monorail hoist is connected to the top of the panel and then moved into position above the panel below and lowered into its final position, before being levelled and finally secured.   

Contact the innovator

Roger Rufey
Senior Design Manager
Wates Living Space
0208 555 8412