Noele Gordon House

Building named in East Ham in honour of Noele Gordon

In February 2023, to coincide with the ITVX drama Nolly, about the life of Noele Gordon, Newham Council revealed a building in East Ham, where Noele was born in 1919 and spent her early years, was to be named in her honour.

Noele Gordon House will be named in celebration of the performer who became a pioneer across theatre and television from 1938 through to 1984, with West End and TV firsts ranging from being the first person transmitted in motion to a colour TV set, ITV’s first female executive and the first woman to interview a prime minister. Newham Council, impressed by the life story of Noele decided their latest development, after consultation, will be named after the Lunch Box presenter.

On the former Hartley Centre, on Barking Road, the site contains 75 high-quality later-living council homes for the borough’s over 55s. It comprises of fifty-five one-bedroom apartments and twenty that have two-bedrooms specifically designed for London Borough of Newham residents on the housing waiting list.

In July 2023 Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz officially marked the topping out of Noele Gordon House. The development, as well as the 75 later-living council homes, also has a 1600sqm health centre at the location.

The homes at Noele Gordon House are designed to industry-leading ‘Housing an Ageing Population Panel for Innovation’ principles which meet the needs and aspirations of older residents. The 75 homes will provide older council tenants with an opportunity to downsize into more manageable accommodation. This in turn will help free up more family homes for those on Newham’s housing waiting list.

Architects Mae is working with Populo Living and the Hill Group UK in building high-quality accommodation for elderly council tenants and helping to free up existing homes to families on Newham’s waiting list.

Newham Council statement:

“We’ve named a block of new council homes being built in East Ham after Noele Gordon – part of our original programme to build 1,000 council homes. Our new programme is to deliver a further 1,500 homes.”

The homes were completed in the summer of 2024 and opened to residents in August of the year.