St Andrews, Bromley-by-Bow

Client:
Barratt London
Location:
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
St Andrews, Bromley-by-Bow, is a 3 hectare high density residential led project developed on the site of a former hospital in East London. Townshend Landscape Architects worked with Allies and Morrison Architects on the master plan, outline planning permission and detail design for Block A, D and E; and with Maccreanor Lavington Architects for Block B and Glenn Howells Architects for Block C.
Masterplan Development
The scheme was a collaboration between Barratt Homes London, the London Development Agency and Circle Anglia Housing Association, providing 964 residential units, a healthcare centre and a community centre set within a network of communal and public open spaces. 50% of the residential units are affordable and 30% family housing.
St Andrews Gardens was designed to be the lively, active space in the scheme and to form a green gateway into the site from Bromley-by-Bow Station. This new route has opened up the site to surrounding neighbourhoods as well as provide views into the space, encouraging people to visit and pass through. The park includes a series of smaller useable spaces for active play as well as quieter areas for seating. In addition a hard paved area, adjacent to the community building, allows overspill space for local events. The smaller spaces are located within a terrace of sculptural landforms to create a strong visual interest, while also providing step free access across the 5.8m level change.
Reeves Park by contrast is a linear green 'pocket park' that forms the northern boundary of the site, and is broken down into a series of sub-spaces accommodating a range of activities. This includes play facilities, seating and a community garden of raised beds made from the reclaimed bricks of the former hospital. Within the lush internal courtyard gardens of Blocks A, B and C, the landscape responds to the architectural diversity by providing three distinct semi-private spaces for local residents. 'Door stop' play is incorporated within the courtyards, integrating features made of natural materials such as boulders, stepping logs and seating all set amongst lawn and herbaceous planting.
Community Engagement
Community engagement played a vital role in responding to the views of the local community within the design.
An Art Strategy was developed to provide a clear role for public art. In 2008, Townshends worked with the artist-in-residence Bobby Lloyd, who arranged a series of art workshops with children from the neighbouring school and whose artwork was exhibited on the hoarding around the site, with the ideas being fed back into the landscape design.
Interventions include 'found objects' that were collected as the hospital was being demolished, photographed and used to produce murals displayed in the main entrances to Block A, as well as resin casts that were embedded into the gabion walls within St Andrews Gardens.
A community herb garden is included in the final phase, which takes its form from the 1860's ground plan of the former hospital and is constructed from the stock bricks recycled from the building. Portland stone, also reclaimed from the hospital, have been used to form an amphitheatre within St Andrews Garden, which is already being used as an informal gathering space for older children.
In July 2011 St. Andrews was awarded three prestigious Housing Design Awards. Phase 1 and 2 won Best Completed Scheme Award. Barratt London also won the Community Consultation Award for the ground-breaking way it has worked with local residents and community associations to design St. Andrews. The third award, the Graham Pye Award, is a special award made each year to the development best suited to family living.
All phases of the master plan are now complete with the last phase completed in 2015.
Design team:
Architect (Masterplan and Blocks A, D and E): Allies and Morrison
Architect (Block B): Maccreanor Lavington
Architect (Block C): Glenn Howells Architects
Structural Engineer: Adams Kara Taylor, URS Corporation
M + E Engineer: Whitecode
Planning Consultant: CBRE
Appointment:
2007
Completion:
2015
Awards:
Housing Design Awards Community Consultation Award Graham Pye Award 2010
Civic Trust Awards Commendation 2014
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