Navarino Mansions, Hackney
Navarino Mansions, Hackney were designed in the Arts and Crafts
style by the architect Nathan Joseph to provide accommodation for
300 Jewish artisans from the East End. The buildings were completed
on the south side of Dalston Lane in 1905 by the philanthropic
association Four Per Cent Industrial Swellings Company, founded by
Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild in 1885. 
The company gradually expanded in its provision of affordable
housing and was the forerunner of original ‘council housing.’ In
1952, the company was renamed the Industrial Dwellings Society and
is now a registered Housing Association managing, building and
developing properties across London.
The works on Navarino Mansions are part of Ian Williams’ 5 year
term redecoration contract and the scope includes external
redecoration of the blocks and internal redecoration of the
communal areas, general use areas and the internals of the
Sheltered Housing Scheme. In total the mixed use estate consists
246 dwellings over 5 floors. Particular challenges on this project
included keeping use of expensive scaffolding to a minimum and the
repair of sliding sash windows which were discovered to be in a far
worse state than anticipated. Discovering the extent of repairs
required put extra pressure on our teams who fortunately are
trained in the use of resin repairs for the sashes, and in spite of
volume of the painting works doubling, we completed the job with
minimal over-run.