How interior design saved a flat in a higher risk building from the Building Safety Act 2022

There are some advantages to buying a new built apartment in a block of flats, from energy efficiency to no buyer’s chain.

Peace of mind comes with some downsides, though, as new built might lack storage and quality of the finishes and, as developers design the flats to cater for an undefined buyer, the look is generally bland and the colour palette unoriginal.

This was the feeling of our clients, a young couple who called us just after having bought their flat in a high-rise building in Wapping.

Their brief was to add storage and help them decorate the apartment to reflect their personality and taste.

In the past, we would have gone for an interior architecture project, which entails changes to the layout and light building works. In this instance, though, we limited the project to interior design and fulfilled the client’s brief without any structural changes to the building.

The newish Building Safety Act 2022 makes it very complicated to intervene in any higher risk building -i.e. any building that has at least 7 storeys or is at least 18 metres high - and we specify only works that would not need Building Regulation approval to avoid the lengthy and bureaucratic process of the new application to the BSR - Building Safety Regulator.

We solved the lack of storage with bespoke pieces for the master bedroom (a C-shaped wardrobe that creates a separate dressing room), the entrance hall (a shoe cabinet that doubles as a console), and the sitting room (a full-height double cupboard that blends in with the kitchen and wraps around a sculptural chest of drawers).

The bathrooms and kitchen were new and functional, so we kept them and added a few simple but bold touches: we elevated the kitchen with new doors in black MDF and a new splashback and worktop in black granite. This is flamed and tumbled to a rough, wabi-sabi finish.

In the bathrooms, we added shots of vibrant colours, painting the ceilings and the doors orange and pink, fitting a bespoke shower curtain in an extra-large pattern by Pierre Frey and adding accessories in neon orange.

The walls are either brush-painted or wallpapered with hand-made rice paper by Le Monde Sauvage. Both finishes add a layer of depth and patina to the rooms.

New decorative lighting, sheer linen curtains in the same colours as the walls, and a few sculptural pieces of furniture complete the look.