UNION BUILDING, LUTON

The Union Building in Luton is a mixed-use development in Luton’s Napier Park area; a prime regeneration location situated close to Luton Airport and Luton Airport Parkway Station.

As part of the first phase of a wider masterplan, Stuart Forbes Associates (SFA) was appointed, together with co-architects Flanagan Lawrence, to develop the Union Building creating 401 residential units, as well as commercial and amenity spaces.

Central to the masterplan is a generous garden that links the main road bordering the site through to an avenue that runs through its centre.

The Union Building has three core sections, each rising in height. Scale is managed through the careful choice of materials: the brick gradually lightens in colour as the façade rises from the textured brick of the ground floor. Each level is articulated with a chalk white brick line. Each level change activates different aspects of the site, with commercial units, a gym, concierge, and residents’ amenities. Internally, a mixture of studio suites, one- and two-bedroom apartments all benefit from roof terraces and private gardens, which face on to the avenue running through the centre of the site.