The Relay Building, originally known as One Commercial Street, is a 21-storey residential block in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed ...

at the junction of

Whitechapel High Street Whitechapel High Street is a street in the Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. It is about 0.2 miles (350 m) long, making it “one of the shortest high streets in London”. It links Aldgate High Street to the south-west with ...

and Commercial Street, London E1. Despite the building's former name, the main entrance is in Whitechapel High Street, and the postal address is 114 Whitechapel High Street. The building opened in 2014. The developer was Redrow;Redrow London
One Commercial Street, Aldgate , Redrow London
, accessdate: 24/08/2014 and the architects were Sigma Seifert.Building Design
Carbuncle Cup: One Commercial Street, by Sigma Seifert Architects , Opinion , Building Design
, accessdate: 24/08/2014 The contractor was John Sisk & Son, a member of the

Sisk Group Sisk Group is a construction and property company founded in Cork, Ireland in 1859 with operations in Ireland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland, Sweden and the Middle East. History After an apprenticeship as a plasterer and at the age of 22, Joh ...

. Construction had been suspended in 2008, but with the recovery in the London housing market, the development was purchased by Redrow. As well as 207 apartments, there is 110,000 sq ft of offices over six floors, retail space on the ground floor and car parking in the basement. The ground floor incorporates one of the western entrances to

Aldgate East tube station Aldgate East is a London Underground station on Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel High Street in Whitechapel, in London, England. It takes its name from the City of London Wards of the City of London, ward of Aldgate, the station lying to the east ...

Design

The developer Redrow described the building as "like a blade of light, its glass fin protruding dramatically to add a sculptural quality to Redrow London's first flagship development". ''

Building Design Building design refers to the broadly based architectural, engineering and technical applications to the design of buildings. All building projects require the services of a building designer, typically a licensed architect. Smaller, less complica ...

'', however, commented: "First flagship development? Please God let it also be their last. No one who can liken this incoherent hulk of ill-fitting glass sheets to a blade of light deserves to build again in such a sensitive location." In July 2014, the building was nominated for the

Carbuncle Cup The Carbuncle Cup was an architecture prize, given annually by the magazine ''Building Design'' to "the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months". It was intended to be a humorous response to the prestigious Stirling ...

, awarded for "the ugliest building in the United Kingdom completed in the last 12 months". The International Property Awards, on the other hand, honoured the building as "Best Residential High-Rise Development UK, 2013–14". Relay Bldg foyer 2020

The entrance lobby is notable for incorporating a section of a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

C Stock train, used as a seating area. It displays "Aldgate East" as its destination. The unit bears the number 5721, which was the number of one of the final C Stock units to run on the Underground before they were withdrawn from service in 2014, but this is not its original number: the genuine 5721 is preserved at the London Transport Museum's Acton depot.

Houblon Apartments and the "poor door"

The Relay Building includes, in compliance with planning legislation, an element of "

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on affo ...

". This part of the development has its own name, "Houblon Apartments"; and a separate entrance, at one side of the building in Tyne Street. In July 2014, an investigation by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper – commenting particularly on One Commercial Street – noted a growing trend for new housing developments in London to include separate, segregated entrances of this kind, known as "

poor door A "poor door" is a separate entrance in a multi-unit housing development for those living in less expensive apartments. Description The term was coined by the local news site West Side Rag in August 2013, where it was used to describe a new dev ...

s". In November 2014, ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...

'' reported that, "for the past 20 weeks, every Wednesday between 6PM and 7PM, a group of locals from the anarchist action group

Class War Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom general ...

have stood outside the slick glass carbuncle with a banner promising to 'devastate the avenues where the wealthy live' – a nod to a 1915 quote from firebrand Chicago anarchist

Lucy Parsons Lucy Eldine Gonzalez Parsons (born Lucia Carter; 1851 – March 7, 1942) was an American labor organizer, radical socialist and anarcho-communist. She is remembered as a powerful orator. Parsons entered the radical movement following her marriag ...

." After 18 weeks, the developer Redrow disposed of the freehold of the building. A week later, a director of the new owners, Hondo Enterprises, agreed to meet with Class War, and they declared a temporary truce.

2022 fire incident

On 7 March 2022, a fire broke out on the 17th floor, with glass panels and other debris falling to the streets below. The London Fire Brigade was called at 3:53pm GMT and fifteen fire engines and more than 125 firefighters were sent to put out the blaze, using the tallest ladder in Europe.

References

{{coord, 51, 30, 55.2, N, 0, 4, 20.7, W, type:landmark_region:GB-TWH, display=title Residential skyscrapers in London Whitechapel Buildings and structures in Whitechapel Skyscrapers in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Commercial Street, London