Vabel Lawrence’s raw luxury is a nod to loft-style living
The Vabel Lawrence residences bring industrial, loft-inspired aesthetics to a north London neighbourhood

Walking past the Vabel Lawrence housing development on its sleepy, tree-lined street in north London, you’d be forgiven for thinking for a second that you were somewhere in New York. With its exposed brick, metalwork and recessed balconies, the latest in a series of residential schemes in the capital by real estate expert Vabel feels both of its place and time, and also timelessly modern, nodding to loft-style living and the apartment blocks of Manhattan.
Vabel Lawrence: raw and luxurious contemporary living
Indeed, loft living and the raw qualities of industrial architecture were a key starting point for the project – as was its location, in a part of Seven Sisters formerly occupied by warehouses. Following the dynamic company's 'Warehouse Living, Made Modern' concept, Vabel Lawrence aims to create subtle space with a soul, crafted by a dedicated in-house design team.
Vabel's creative director and co-founder Jeremy Spencer says: 'Vabel Lawrence is the culmination of our dedication to delivering homes that prioritise space and reflect the way people want to live, all while being mindful of delivering quality and genuine value. We put a huge amount of thought into how people want to live their lives.'
'We’ve worked diligently to create homes with a truly holistic approach from conception, as well as a design and build quality not typically associated with this price point. This development offers true Londoners the opportunity to live in their very own Vabel-designed sanctuary: a harmonious blend of history and the contemporary, providing residents with a very special place to call home. We’ve all fallen in love with Seven Sisters – it’s such an eclectic area that needs to be celebrated; by contrast, Lawrence Road has a wonderfully calm and peaceful energy.'
The design intends to tell a story of the site's past in textile and clothing manufacturing. Crafted details and strategically exposed materials reveal that care and thought were not spared for the sake of a raw aesthetic.
The development spans 71 homes, with a small family of generous penthouses (pictured here) crowning the top and offering long, unobstructed vistas towards the London skyline. And while the penthouses have the biggest terraces, all homes provide outdoor space.
Fittings were largely designed by Vabel bespoke – from the minimalist yet warm kitchens, to lighting and storage space. Exposed concrete, birch plywood, quartz worktops and glazed bronze tile splashbacks make for a neutral, textured backdrop with pops of colour that add character throughout.
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
An open garden at the heart of the development is designed by Livingstone Eyre Associates, whose landscape encourages existing wildlife to take over and coexist with the scheme's new, human inhabitants.
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
Premium pocketable audio scales up with the new SP4000 from Astell&Kern
The Astell&Kern A&ultima SP4000 is a serious piece of audiophile equipment, a high-res portable player that offers endless ways to shape your listening experience
-
The ultimate amenity in this Canadian apartment building? A trio of scene-stealing restaurants
Part of Citizen on Jasper, a new residential tower, Va!, Olia, and Mimi offer a thrilling day-to-night dining experience
-
These sculptural mirrors embody the relaxed spirit of the Med
Photographed in a Mallorcan residence designed by local studio Munarq, these new sculptural mirrors by New York furniture company Ready To Hang are inspired by the sea
-
15 years of Assemble, the community-driven British architecture collective
Rich in information and visuals, 'Assemble: Building Collective' is a new book celebrating the Turner Prize-winning architecture collective, its community-driven hits and its challenges
-
Meet Studio Knight Stokoe, the landscape architects guided by ‘resilience, regeneration and empathy’
Boutique and agile, Studio Knight Stokoe crafts elegant landscapes from its base in the southwest of England – including a revived brutalist garden
-
Tour this compact Kent coast jewel of a cabin with Studiomama
Jack Mama and Nina Tolstrup take us on a tour of their latest project – a small but perfectly formed Kent coast cabin in Seasalter, UK
-
Boutique London rental development celebrates European courtyard living
London design and development studio Wendover unveils its newest residential project, 20 Newcourt Street, comprising nine apartments; we toured with co-founder Gabriel Chipperfield
-
A refreshed Fulham house balances its history with a series of 21st-century interventions
A Fulham house project by Bureau de Change creates a 21st-century domestic haven through a series of contemporary interventions and a deep connection to the property's historical fabric
-
The Monthly Architecture Edit: Wallpaper’s favourite July houses
From geometric Japanese cottages to restored modernist masterpieces, these are the best residential projects to have crossed the architecture desk this month
-
Visiting an experimental UK home: welcome to Housestead
This experimental UK home, Housestead by Sanei + Hopkins, brings together architectural explorations and daily life in these architects’ own home
-
A house in Leamington Spa is a domestic oasis infused with contemporary sensibilities
This house in Leamington Spa, by John Pardey Architects, brings together flood risk considerations, a conservation area's historic character, and contemporary sensibilities