HAALO was the funder’s Lead Construction Advisor on The Wiltern — Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC)’s second Build to Rent development, where HAALO’s building-safety foresight added a second staircase ahead of the regulation, solved as an external feature that cost no rental space.
The Wiltern is a 278-home Build to Rent landmark in Ealing, 35% of it affordable, built on an existing car park and former petrol station on Western Avenue. Its Art Deco form responds to the neighbouring Grade II*-listed Hoover Building — with high quality product specification - a durable, well-detailed asset that an institutional owner holds for the long term. It was delivered for PIC, the funder, with Amro as developer and Savills as the nominated operator.
Holding the standard through a turbulent build.
HAALO acted as Lead Construction Advisor to PIC — providing project monitoring and oversight through pre-construction development, construction delivery and handover —advising the duty holders under the revised Building Regulations and through a contractor replacement scenario. Keeping pace with regulatory change is central to how HAALO drives value; on The Wiltern that meant Building Safety Act 2022 foresight at the point it mattered most, and holding the technical and quality standard through to handover so the asset’s integrity and value was never traded throughout a turbulent construction phase.
fire-safety foresight, ahead of the regulation.
HAALO’s defining contribution here was fire-safety foresight and contractor management. Exceeding fire standards is HAALO’s baseline; on The Wiltern, the judgement was that the tallest element — initially drawn with a single staircase — should have a second staircase, well ahead of the regulation that would later require it.
A second internal staircase could have reduced net lettable area, and the design team resisted the redesign it implied. Rather than accept a trade-off between fire safety and rental capacity, HAALO proposed a second staircase set outside of the proposed building line — meeting the higher standard with no loss of lettable space. Whilst this move to an external secondary stair required a change of planning permission, it was viewed positively and became an architectural feature in its own right.
HAALO has continued to support PIC with project management services in delivering the completion of the main residential internal and external amenity spaces — being undertaken within an operational environment with a specialist fit-out contractor.
Built to the standard the sector later required
The Wiltern residential units completed in 2025 and is now let and operational. For PIC, HAALO's foresight means the asset was built to the higher fire-safety level that the sector has since moved to — designed for the long term from the outset, providing residents with alternative means of escape comfort and saving any future commercial strains on the owner from having to consider expensive building safety retrofit solutions.
The Wiltern is let and operating under Savills, and is well regarded by its residents — rated 4.5 out of 5 on HomeViews. Because the external staircase was designed in from the outset, no later change of design was needed as the standard moved.
278 Build to Rent apartments (studio, 1, 2 & 3-bed, including affordable), 15 storeys, Art Deco design.
- RIBA Stage 3 design review and second-staircase recommendation.
- The external-staircase design; the handover technical and compliance record.
- HAALO advisory record.
- HAALO named among PIC’s advisers in PIC’s public announcement (27 May 2021).
