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Designer Sergison Bates Developer Baylight Properties Contractor Rooff Planning Authority London Borough of Wandsworth

Garratt Lane is not the loveliest part of Wandsworth, and the former paint factory which formed the basis for this development is hardly one of its most outstanding buildings. But the developer has a reputation for dealing successfully with unpromising material, and this subtle intervention has managed to transform a humdrum corner of a busy road into a well mannered model of urban design. The two original buildings, let for commercial uses, now support an additional storey of timber-framed flats, strung along a winding walkway which bridges the gap between them.

This is a street in the sky which really lives up to the name, with a small private court, open to the sun, giving on to each flat, and allowing the kitchens and bathrooms natural light and view. On the far side, each flat looks on to one of London's secret rivers, the Wandle, before it dives into a pipe for the remainder of its journey to the Thames. It is a surprising view to encounter behind a noisy traffic artery, and the planning of the flats exploits it to the full.

But it is the wood – larch plywood, to be precise – which makes this little street such a warm and unforgettable experience. It covers the ceiling, the walls, the doors, and even flows into the bathrooms to give them a sauna-like quality. It is utterly simple, and immensely pleasurable to experience. By contrast, the exterior face of the building is clad in a grey fibrous cement rainscreen, punctuated by high quality purpose-built windows, arranged in an apparently casual fashion which conceals a very careful and studied piece of design.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the small 6-storey tower which terminates the building at its southern end. There is a decidedly un-English feel to this block, reminiscent of the very best small-scale housing projects to be found in Switzerland or Germany. So many architects might have been tempted to make a grand gesture here, standing as it does in such a prominent position. But this quiet, undemonstrative building is exactly right for its location: good, ordinary housing which somehow manages to be so much more than that.