Example photo by Pete Alexopoulos on Unsplash, not our project
Tower Hamlets · London
Alcove units in Heron Quays, Tower Hamlets
Cupboards and shelves built into the alcoves beside a chimney breast, designed for your room in Heron Quays. We measure, design and quote first, then make it in our workshop and fit it.
- Everyday clutter left on show
- Bowed walls and sloping floors
- Tired cupboards in the alcoves
Alcove units in Heron Quays
Bespoke alcove units or ready-made?
The depth of an alcove is set by the chimney breast. A shop-bought cabinet may stick out past the chimney breast or leave a deep gap behind it. We set the depth to suit the room, flush with the chimney breast or set back from it. Standalone furniture fixed to plasterboard needs the right fixings, and often doesn’t get them. Built-in pieces are designed with the right fixings from the start, and heavy pieces can stand on the floor.
Getting to the room affects the job as well. Several flights of stairs, a small lift or a narrow hall can mean smaller sections and more carrying, and that’s part of the price. There’s no price list: each design is priced in writing after we’ve seen the space.
Why work with us in Heron Quays
- Every quote follows a design visit
- More than 300 projects completed
- Made for your room, not a standard size
- Moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood
Read our comparison of bespoke and off-the-shelf and what to look for in a quote.
About our alcove units in Heron Quays
We fit alcove units across Tower Hamlets and the rest of London. The first step is a design visit to measure the alcoves and agree the layout. After that we send a written quote, and once you’re happy the units are made at our workshop and fitted in your home. If you are living with storage that suits a period room and room to work in an alcove, alcove units made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, finished by spray or by hand can solve it.
A large number of homes around Heron Quays date from 2000 onwards, and in a newer home the living space is normally open-plan, without a chimney breast. That means alcove units often create the structure of the room, framing a screen or running a full wall. Plasterboard stud walls are common in newer homes, so heavy pieces are fixed into the studs or stand on the floor.
A written quote is the clearest record of what we have agreed. It describes the alcove unit we’ve designed for the room, its materials and its finish.
- Place
- Heron Quays (E14, SE16, E22)
- Area
- Tower Hamlets
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- To begin
- A design visit: we measure and talk it through
- Made
- Workshop-made, then fitted
- Boards and paint
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- Working days
- Weekdays; Saturdays on request
- Enquiries
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Honest limits
Some parts of a job need another trade, such as an electrician, a plumber or a Gas Safe engineer. Here is what to bear in mind:
- Decorating the rest of the room
- Finding and fixing the cause of damp
- Taking out a chimney breast or opening up a fireplace
If in doubt, you can drop us a line using the contact form and describe the room before you arrange a visit. How a job runs, step by step.
What it is made from
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
- Panelled or flat doors
- Scribed side panels
- Moisture-resistant MDF
- Birch plywood
- Adjustable shelves
Living-room carpentry in Heron Quays: local notes
The biggest shares of homes in the streets around Heron Quays were built since 2000 (about 68%) and between 1973 and 1999 (about 16%), according to Valuation Office Agency council tax figures (2025). That matters for alcove units, as the build era decides whether a wall is solid brick, lath and plaster, block or plasterboard. The West India Dock Conservation Area is close by, within about a quarter of a mile of the centre of Heron Quays. Planning controls in conservation areas are mainly concerned with the outside of buildings, so fitting furniture inside a house doesn’t normally need permission. Your council can advise if you’re unsure. Newer homes are more common around Heron Quays than across Tower Hamlets: about 68% date from 2000 onwards, against about 45%, going by the Valuation Office Agency’s 2025 council tax figures. Newer homes often have stud walls and compact rooms, so fixings and sizes are planned with that in mind.
If you live in a period home close to St Peter's Church, walls that bow and floors that slope are why alcove units are scribed to fit rather than pushed into place. Near listed buildings like Church of St Matthias, about 0.5 miles north-east of the centre of Heron Quays, older homes may keep original joinery that alcove units can be designed around. For a listed home, fixing into original features can require listed building consent. If you live near Sir John McDougall Gardens, a room that looks out on trees deserves a design that leaves the window alone.
Heron Quays is about 2 miles north-west of Whitechapel, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wherever you are in Heron Quays, it works the same way: we visit and measure, send a written quote, make the furniture in our workshop and fit it. In Tower Hamlets, Heron Quays is one of the places we cover, and the borough has 31 places on our list.
Here we cover the E14, SE16 and E22 postcode area for alcove units. Whether you live on a street like Tiller Road, Castor Lane and Cassilis Road or on one nearby, we can visit to measure up for alcove units. The A1261 run close to Heron Quays, so if your home is on a main road, mention it when you contact us. Nearby, we also make alcove units in Canary Wharf (1 mile north-east), London Docklands (1 mile north-east), Poplar (1 mile north-east), Coldharbour (1 mile east) and Blackwall (1 mile east). Across the rest of Tower Hamlets, our area takes in Whitechapel (2 miles north-west), Spitalfields (2 miles west), Tower Hill (2 miles west), Bethnal Green (2 miles north-west), Cambridge Heath (3 miles north-west) and Mile End (2 miles north).
Around Heron Quays
Our area takes in the homes around Tower Hamlets College, Canary Wharf College 3 and The Ledger Building pub. Heron Quays has its own railway station: Canary Wharf station. Well-known places in the area include Poplar Hospital (0.9 miles north-east) and The Pumphouse Educational Museum (0.7 miles west). For a walk, there is Lavender Pond.
Also near Heron Quays
Other services in Heron Quays
FAQs: alcove units in Heron Quays
My home in Heron Quays is a flat. How do you get the furniture in?
At the design visit, we measure the way in along with the room itself. Alcove units are made at our workshop in sections sized to fit that route, then assembled in your flat. It is useful to check any building rules and your lease before fitting day.
Do you cover homes near Canary Wharf station?
Yes. We cover all of Tower Hamlets and the rest of London. To get started, you can get in touch through our contact form with some details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
Can I send pictures before the visit?
Yes. Pictures help us understand the room before the design visit, along with rough sizes. Show anything the furniture has to work around, like radiators or sockets.
Can you fit furniture on an external wall?
It needs a little planning: ventilation behind and inside the furniture helps avoid condensation and mould. Damp treatment is not something we do, so any damp needs sorting first.
Can you build alcove units for alcoves that are not square?
Yes. Each alcove is measured at the design visit, make the units in our workshop and trim the edges on site to meet the wall.
How do I get a quote for alcove units in Heron Quays?
Simply use our contact form. It is useful to send rough measurements and a few photos, and we’ll arrange a design visit, followed by a written quote.
Boards, parts and paint
Spray-painted finish
A spray-painted finish is applied in our workshop, giving a smooth, even, factory-like surface. It suits a crisp, modern look as well as a classic one.
Hand-painted finish
A hand-painted finish suits alcove units in a period room. The colour is agreed with you, and it is easy to refresh in years to come.
What happens on fitting day
Once the main sections are fixed in place, we hang any doors and fit any drawers or lids. Each one is adjusted until the gaps are even and it closes cleanly, and then we check it all again. The time the fitting takes depends on how many alcoves there are and how tall the units go, and your quote sets out the fitting days. Newer blocks often have concierge desks, entry systems and rules on lift booking, so it’s useful to sort them out in advance. Alcove units are made in sections sized for the lift and doors.
- You send us some details about the alcoves and what you’d like in them.
- At the design visit, we measure each alcove and go through the layout with you.
- Your quote follows, with the design, materials and finish set out.
- The units are made in our workshop.
- We fit them in your home, scribing them to the walls. Then we go through the doors and shelves with you.
Preparing the room
- Take down pictures, mirrors and shelves from the wall
- Keep pets out of the room and the hallway
- Tell us about parking near your home
How to get a quote
Your quote is written for your room once we’ve visited and measured. Because every room is different, the quote comes after the design visit. To arrange a visit, drop us a line using the contact form.
Related advice
Flats, conversions and leaseholders
Leaseholders should check the lease before anything is fixed to the walls. A lease can require consent from the building owner for alterations, which is worth sorting early. We cannot advise on your lease.
Mansion blocks and purpose-built blocks often have house rules about lifts, entry systems and when trades can come in. Let us know about them at the design visit.