Project: 200,000sqft regeneration project to provide a mix of housing tenure, alongside a variety of commercial units, all in the heart of Deptford.
Value: £35,000,000
Client: MacDonald Egan Ltd
Status: Planning Approval

North Lewisham is undergoing transformation on a massive scale. Huge areas of post industrial landscape have been opened up to the potential for mixed used development and regeneration aimed at creating sustainable communities and reconnecting parts of the borough through a network of pathways and green links.

At the centre of this vision, sits a site located on Grinstead Road, facing Deptford Park and backing onto railway sidings and a thriving business park. The site itself contributes little to the quality of the immediate environment (which includes a secondary school  and a well established residential community) and in many ways can be seen as an obstacle in connecting a smaller green space (Folkestone Gardens) to Deptford Park.

As is typical of such sites and of the borough, the site is constrained by a significant likelihood of flood, and extensive contamination. The response is a well reasoned placing of extruded residential blocks arranged across the site over a raised podium of concealed parking and street facing commercial activity encouraging exchange and activity within the linking spaces of the scheme.

A central concept to the development of this scheme is the connection of the two green spaces located either side of the railway viaduct which flanks the southern boundary of the site. Subsequently a new permeable route is to be extended through newly opened railway arches, and a new public square created along the route. This space is to be flanked by small shops and commercial units, as well as a small café, bringing life and activity to the core of the scheme.

A run of arches, themselves, are also opened and a mews of start-up units is created for local trade and business.

In housing terms, the scheme is envisaged as a series of blocks of differing scales and proportions, but all ‘extruded' from the same basic brick material in a range of whites, greys and blacks. The tenure is wide ranging and designed to offer multiple opportunities for families, couples and singles, with a highly considered landscape scheme throughout supporting a sustainable micro-community.