London Borough of Southwark was engaged in upgrading living accomodation in flats on the Friary Estate. Ednam House, the largest block on the estate, was having an external makeover as well, including new entrances, new balustrades, and a newly rendered wall at street level.

Artist Randy Klein was invited to develop ideas for artwork to coordinate with these improvements. After many consultations with the architects, planners, and residents, a project to create artwork was agreed.

The Balustrades
Existing balustrades were made of glass, many of them were broken, and they were in general unsightly and unsafe. The architects had decided to replace these with perforated steel panels. Klein suggested making 60 of these metal balustrades in laser cut stainless steel. Workshops were held with residents in the tenant hall, and from these a series of designs were developed. These were cut in stainless steel and applied to the balconies.

Tenants on a neighboring block, Denstone House, were so impressed with the result, they requested a similar treatment to their balustrades.

Feature Wall
After several proposals, a design was agreed for the feature wall. A series of metal enamelled panels using photographs of the history of the area, contrasted with more recent photographs were created. These were embedded into the rendered wall at ground level.
The project was highlighted by the RIBA in the Housing Sector Review 2008.