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Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —
Adaptive Retrofit — Humanising Infrastructure — Making better places — Architecture — Public Realm — Spatial Strategy — Creative Reuse — Urban Transformation — Decarbonisation —

Harrow Road Place Plan— London

Client(s)

Westminster City Council

Collaborator(s)

Abundance Arts / Accertum / Daisy Froud / Expedition Engineering / JCLA / NRP / Shirley Hottier Illustrations / Studio Dekka / Waterway Projects

5th Studio – appointed through a competitive tender via the GLA’s ADUP II Framework – is leading a multidisciplinary design team to deliver three public realm projects along Harrow Road, following on from the development of a concept masterplan for the wider area.

The projects, supported by the GLA’s Good Growth Fund, seek to revitalise the high street and canal to bring forward much needed improvements to the area. The team has been working closely with residents and stakeholders to develop detailed designs at Maida Hill Market – the heart of the high street – and the high street’s intersections with the canal at Westbourne Green and Harrow Road Open Space.

5th Studio is leading a consultant team that includes regular collaborators Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects (JCLA), Studio Dekka, Expedition Engineering, Accertum, Daisy Froud (leading the engagement work) and Waterway Projects. The team has recently worked with the Council on ‘Paddington Places’, the public realm and connectivity strategy for neighbouring North Paddington.

Harrow Road has a diverse and close-knit community but suffers from severances caused by the Westway and the railway corridor. Its inclusion in the North Westminster Economic Development Area recognises that regeneration and growth is required to improve employment and social opportunities. The Council and the community have established four objectives for the Harrow Road Place Plan: create a 21st century high street; improve access to public open space; ensure a socially sustainable future; benefit from future development. The concept masterplan and the delivery of the three key public spaces, aim to catalyse wider regeneration and investment to meet these objectives.

Concept Masterplan – Building on the Harrow Road Place Plan objectives and public engagement, 5th Studio produced a conceptual vision structured around four layers: Landscape, High Street, Community Assets, Connectivity. Within the vision sits a framework of granular interventions, alongside larger schemes by key landowners, that come together to form a joined-up and deliverable masterplan for immediate and longer-term improvements.

Key locations for interventions along Harrow Road
Findings from public consultation events are being used to set the design ambitions for the projects

Harrow Road Open Space – A series of improvements to the existing park seek to establish better visual and physical access to the canal, and foster a more welcoming environment. New landscaping, seating and lighting form a multi-functional outdoor room, opposite the library, for community use. New trees and planting alongside in-channel ecological improvements will create tranquil spaces along the terrace. There is potential for the space to be animated further with residential moorings and a pontoon.

Maida Hill Market – 5th Studio’s proposals seek to re-establish this important space at the core of the high street, as a forum for civic and community life. The existing area, vehicle-dominated and cluttered, will be transformed into a pedestrianised space with a dedicated cycle route. An attractive ‘grove’ with new woodland planting, seating and tables under existing trees, will offer a comfortable place to rest and socialise. New market infrastructure, paving and planters alongside existing shops and cafes, will support a vibrant ‘market street’ focussed on food and commerce. These moves allow the existing square, fronting Harrow Road, to function as a flexible open space for events and performance, adding to the vibrancy of the high street.

Westbourne Green Open Space – The project aims to add variety and character to this local asset, an existing park alongside the Grand Union Canal. The team has proposed ecological intensification of parts of the open space, with bulb planting under existing mature trees, a new orchard, and wetland planting forming a water feature that references the lost River Westbourne. A new parkland trail with educational nature markers, play features and seating, offers a quieter alternative to the existing shared pedestrian and cycle route. New access points in strategic locations open up vistas from existing buildings across the park to the towpath and canal.

Engagement – Local people have significantly shaped all three public realm projects, with engagement fully integrated with the design development process. 5th Studio held public events at key milestones, monthly community working groups and targeted sessions with marginalised groups. Championing an inclusive engagement process, the team also ran design workshops at several local state schools and community youth groups.

CONTACT

studio@5thstudio.co.uk

recruitment@5thstudio.co.uk

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