Places That Work
Studio Woodroffe Papa are contributors to the recently released Places that Work report. The report is a collaboration between Architecture 00, GVA and Dan Hill with contributions from the Centre for London and Studio Woodroffe Papa. View the full report here.
The report looks at how London can meet its growth challenges by mixing a wide range of employment spaces with residential and other uses. The research identifies the scale of the opportunity for a 'New London Mix" to deliver an additional 20% of light industrial employment capacity alongside new homes in London. The ‘New London Mix’ is focused on the significant delivery potential of mixing a wide range of commercial space with residential and other uses, which should complement simply protecting or intensifying industrial land for solely employment use. This approach can create significant local benefits by retaining and growing existing and new businesses, allowing for additional much-needed homes to be delivered and underpinning an inclusive and sustainable model for urban growth.
The New London Mix can include a range of activities from light industry, designer-maker, storage space or logistics depots, artist workspace, commercial and community uses. Studio Woodroffe Papa developed a series of New London Mix scheme examples which illustrate how the New London Mix could be delivered. This was done by defining building typologies that respond to the range of conditions often found in London and UK cities.
"Imagine a neighbourhood next to a railway or other large scale infrastructure. A yard along the railway gives access to HGVs and other vehicles servicing a range of larger manufacturing or distribution units, whose offices or showrooms front a street. The housing above have large courtyards on top of the industrial unit. The surrounding streets have a mix of buildings types, old and new - some existing buildings offering affordable studios, whereas others are a mix of residential and active ground floor uses. An industrial estate protected as SIL or LSIS is located at the rear."
"Imagine a large urban block that is part of an estate regeneration scheme - with high density infill or replacement housing forming a perimeter block. The ground and first floors form an employment ‘plinth’ with a mixture of workspace, social infrastructure and perhaps a local supermarket or crèche. Servicing happens from the rear, where a yard accommodates a range of spaces for start-ups, growing businesses and community use."
"Imagine an area where new or improved transport links create an impetus for high density residential development. A large development site borders on both existing housing and protected industrial land. A range of taller and lower residential blocks offer employment spaces on ground and first floor: larger (light) manufacturing and logistics units near the protected industrial land, and towards the existing residential area a finer grain of studio-workshop space mixed with other town centre uses. Some housing blocks have ground floor maisonettes, whereas in the centre of the site, an stand-alone workspace block offers a mix of flexible office and studio spaces."
Places That Work
Authors
Joost Beunderman + Alice Fung, Architecture 00, Dan Hill, Martyn Saunders, GVA
Contributors
Richard Brown, The Centre for London, Studio Woodroffe Papa