Brunel Street Works Set to Bring Silvertown Way to Life
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Brunel Street Works Set to Bring Silvertown Way to Life

Published on 23 June 2017
Illustrative view of JTP’s Malabar building

Proposals for Brunel Street Works, a new mixed-use quarter for a GLA-owned site in Canning Town, have received Resolution to Grant from the London Borough of Newham.

The proposals were unanimously approved at committee on 20 June 2017.

Brunel Street Works, developed by Opal, a joint venture partnership between Thames Valley Housing, Galliford Try and Fizzy Living, will deliver 975 homes and a range of mixed uses for Canning Town, harnessing JTP’s expertise in collaborative placemaking together with architects GRID and Cartwright Pickard to create a high density quarter with a distinct identity.

The innovative housing mix is split evenly between private rent, private sale and affordable housing, including 30% family housing across all tenures - a strategy encouraged by the Mayor of London to provide the diverse range of homes that Londoners need.

The tenure mix will accelerate delivery and ensure a diverse, socially inclusive community grows, while redressing the high proportion of social rent housing in Newham.

The Brunel Street Works proposals will create environmental, economic and social benefits contributing to the transformation of the wider Canning Town & Custom House Masterplan area whilst delivering much needed housing on this highly constrained GLA-owned site.

“
Galliford Try is very pleased that, through our joint venture between Linden Homes and Thames Valley Housing, our plans for Brunel Street Works on Silvertown Way have been approved. Now that the application has received resolution to grant detailed planning consent, works can get underway for the planned 975 homes.
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The joint venture has appointed Galliford Try Partnerships to build this mixed-use scheme and we look forward to seeing the works progress and a new, regenerated community in time to come.
Trevor Dempsey, regional managing director at Linden Homes Eastern
Brunel Street Works site plan
“
Brunel Street Works will be a vibrant, mixed-use urban quarter, harnessing JTP’s placemaking expertise through an extensive community engagement process to create a diverse community with a distinct identity, at the high density needed in this area of East London. The proposals will re-stitch the site into its historical context, drawing on its industrial heritage.
“
A significant element is the reestablishment of Silvertown Way as an active street; stepped back buildings of varying scale create an appropriate sense of street enclosure, and mixed uses create an active public thoroughfare.
Rebecca Taylor, JTP partner leading the project

Brunel Street Works will provide four new public spaces for residents and the local community, linked by enhanced public realm along Silvertown Way creating an inviting pedestrian journey. The ground floor of the new development will be activated by a wide range of mixed uses facing Silvertown Way, including cafes, a hotel, restaurants, a food store and employment space for the emerging creative sectors.

JTP led a collaborative design process with GRID and Cartwright Pickard; each of the three practices brought a unique character to their building within a selected palette of materials, resulting in a series of distinct but complementary buildings, set within four character areas that respond to the changing context of the site from north to south. Each building takes inspiration from the site’s history and proximity to the Thames Iron Works and Ship Building Company, creating architecture of longevity with robust, high quality materials. 

The bespoke mixed-use strategy for Brunel Street Works was developed through an extensive stakeholder engagement process, including a full Community Planning Weekend and several exhibitions as the design progressed, balancing the differing views of parties including TfL, DLR, GLA, London Borough of Newham and Opal LLP.

Illustrative view of JTP’s Grafton Building
Illustrative view of GRID’s Castalia Building
Illustrative view of Cartwright Pickard’s Heartwell Building

The proposals were taking through the planning process by national planning and development consultancy Lichfields (formerly Nathaniel Lichfield & Partners).

“
This development will be a major boost to the local economy supporting some 600 construction jobs over the four-year build programme, and almost a further 1,000 jobs in the supply chain.
Lichfields senior director Daniel Lampard

The ground floor plan is adaptable, allowing small businesses to establish themselves and move to a larger unit as they grow, cultivating a prosperous future for Canning Town.

The space beneath the Silvertown flyover was the site of a recent competition by the London Festival of Architecture, to design a new creative workspace to animate the ground floor in the short term while construction takes place, and to attract and retain creative businesses as the area emerges as a new business district.

Brunel Street Works will be built out in one phase, with a four year build programme expected to commence on site later this year.

Evening view of JTP’s Grafton Building
Tags
Planning Approval
Related Projects
Brunel Street Works,
London, UK
New Urban Quarter
Stage: On-site