Higham Hill Hub

Higham Hill Hub is a new community building on a former bowling green in Waltham Forest, replacing outdated facilities with a kitchen, a flexible events hall, and a courtyard for workshops, food growing, and outdoor cooking. EGY designed an integrated landscape-led sustainable drainage strategy that managing surface water above ground avoiding the use of buried attenuation tanks.

That constraint, no buried attenuation, is significant. In conventional drainage practice, achieving a restricted discharge rate on a site like this typically means an underground tank or cellular storage system. EGY designed around that entirely, using a combination of permeable paving, rain gardens, and bioretention areas to attenuate runoff above ground while meeting the required discharge limit.

The approach aligns with the wider project. The buildings will be constructed using a timber frame with hempcrete walls — low-carbon, natural materials. EGY’s drainage strategy holds the same values: water managed through landscape rather than engineered underground infrastructure. Rainwater harvesting is integrated throughout, reducing potable water demand for any irrigation on the site.

A former bowling green made useful again

The site has been used for temporary community initiatives since the bowling green closed, such as bike repair workshops, a pop-up cinema during the pandemic, fitness classes. The permanent hub builds on that foundation. The central courtyard opens onto the outdoor space, giving the community a usable setting for growing food and gathering year-round. EGY’s drainage design serves that courtyard as well as the buildings. The rain gardens and bioretention areas are part of the landscape, not hidden beneath it. They improve biodiversity and amenity while doing the drainage work. That is the point of getting the engineering right from the start.