A New Vision for Paddington Place Unveiled
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A New Vision for Paddington Place Unveiled

Published on 9 May 2016

Local residents and architects have joined forces to develop a new Vision for Paddington Place, around two hectares of prime London real estate next to Paddington station.

The proposals include:

  • The sensitive integration of the historic character of the area - in particular retaining the Sorting Office façade - to provide the “front door” for a cultural, retail and leisure destination as a new vibrant heart for Paddington;
  • The creation of a new gateway ‘piazza’ to Paddington station, incorporating the existing ramp and new seating steps, and other high quality places and spaces within the development connected by a network of pedestrian routes;
  • The provision of a range of housing, including key worker and affordable homes for local people, workspace and new accommodation for St Mary’s hospital;
  • The continued participation of the local residential and business communities in drawing up the proposals for Paddington Place.
“
It was a fantastic and energising experience participating in the Community Planning Weekend and wonderful to see how the breadth of ideas from the community have been turned into an ambitious Vision for the site. This weekend demonstrates that when local communities are given the information and an opportunity to participate, they will engage with the process and embrace the challenge of shaping the places where they live. Civic Voice was proud to be a partner with JTP in this weekend and we hope other communities will be inspired by the Paddington community.
John Walker, Deputy Chair of Civic Voice
Artist's impression of Brunel Square: A new, traffic-free, public square to Paddington Station that will transform the experience of using the station entrance by unifying the existing ramp with London Street, introducing mixed uses at street level and facilitating pedestrian movement within the station and into the surrounding neighbourhood.

In January, a proposal for a 72-storey skyscraper on the site, nicknamed the ‘Paddington Pole’, was withdrawn. Create Streets, an independent research institute focusing on towns and cities, has launched a public competition to suggest high-quality alternative schemes for ‘Paddington Place’. More information on the competition is available here.

Architects JTP and Civic Voice, the national charity for the civic movement, teamed up to organise the Community Planning Weekend for the site as part of the competition. People movement experts Movement Strategies and crowd movement analysts Disperse also joined the team.

Over the course of the Weekend, local people and others with an interest in the future of Paddington were invited to participate over two days in workshops and walkabouts to plan ideas and create a new Vision for this important site and its relationship with the surrounding area. 

The culmination of the weekend’s activities was developed into the illustrated Vision for Paddington Place by the JTP team and this was presented back to the local community on Tuesday 3 May 2016 at St John’s Hyde Park. The new Vision will now be submitted as an entry to the Create Streets design competition by the 9 May deadline.

“
It was a pleasure to work with the local community to develop this new Vision for Paddington Place. Our collaborative planning approach puts people at the centre of the creative process, to share local knowledge and build the Vision together. Community Planning Weekend participants were supportive of mixed-use redevelopment to create a vibrant, new heart to Paddington. But they want to see it done in a sensitive manner, at an appropriate scale to serves the needs of the local community, St Mary’s Hospital staff and patients and all who use the area.
Charles Campion, Partner at JTP
Redevelopment provides opportunities for the regeneration of Praed Street by diverting pedestrian movement away from pinch points, widening the footpath to provide more space for a bus stop and taxi set down and creating better street frontages for local businesses