Barking and Dagenham
Moving image Thinking space: investment in learning environments
Issue 3 2014 boldmagazine.co.uk
Creating places: Roding Riverside takes shape Winning ways: gongs still sounding for Barking town centre
www.barkingriverside.co.uk
www.london.gov.uk
YOUR ST YLE. YOUR C HOIC E. Y O U R C I T Y E A S T. From its striking looks to a location offering relaxation along the river and within easy reach of the capital, City East is refreshingly different. Barking Riverside is a unique opportunity comprising of a new mixed use community of up to 10,800 dwellings, new schools, retail and leisure uses, together with major transport infrastructure, sited on 2km of frontage to the River Thames. Development commenced in 2011 and so far 700 dwellings are complete or under construction, with further commitments on 400 - 500 dwellings. A number of investment/development sites will be available in the near future and therefore now is the time to be talking to us about how you can be involved in one of the fastest selling residential sites in the UK. For an informal discussion please contact Richard Burrows, Managing Director, Bellway Homes Ltd (Essex Division), tel: 01245 259989 or Matthew Carpen, Senior Area Manager, Greater London Authority, tel: 020 7983 4272, for more information.
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Contents
editorial director: Siobhán Crozier head of design: Rachael Schofield Art Direction: Smallfury Designs contributing editor: Sarah Herbert reporter: James Wood prOduction assistant: Joe Davies business Development director: Paul Gussar business development manager: Shelley Cook Office manager: Sue Mapara subscriptions manager: Simon Maxwell Managing director: Toby Fox
6 News
19 map
41 Round table
Accolades, art and planning applications – news on the regeneration of Barking and Dagenham
What’s happening and where – a summary of opportunities
10 Town Centre
Update on schemes under way around the borough
As the regeneration of award-winning Barking continues, our panel of experts discuss what else is needed in the town centre
Barking’s award-winning town centre, where further investment continues to deliver transformation
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20 projects
26 LSIP London Sustainable Industries Park at Dagenham Dock is adding new occupiers to join London’s growing cleantech hub
30 education Pupils and students are supported to achieve in a well-designed learning environment – Barking and Dagenham Council invests in opportunity for young people
16 Roding riverside A new neighbourhood is establishing its identity next to Barking town centre, with the Icehouse Cultural Quarter at its core
39 Connectivity With £90 million to be invested in the Gospel Oak to Barking line, capacity will increase – and it’s a step nearer to an extension to Barking Riverside
49 residential Barking and Dagenham’s housing supply is diversifying and bringing with it a changing demographic
54 sitematch In Barking, a mixed-use, leisure-led, commercial opportunity will soon be brought to the market
cover IMAGE: Technical Skills Academy IMAGES: Barking and Dagenham Council, Tim Crocker, Rooff, van Heyningen and Haward Architects, James Brittain, David Tothill, EPS, Spencer Griffiths, Barking & Dagenham College, Rob Parrish, Timothy Soar, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, Laing O’Rourke, Laura Vila, © GLA, 2013, Arthouse Digital, Stitch, Scott Kershaw, Bread Collective, © Transport for London, Hannah Crick Printed by: Bishops Printers Published by: 3Fox International Ltd 375 Kennington Lane London SE11 5QY T: 020 7978 6840 For Barking and Dagenham Council David Harley, group manager (economic development and sustainable communities) Town Hall, 1 Town Square Barking IG11 7LU boldmagazine.co.uk
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NewS Painting the Town Twenty-four shops and eight electricity boxes in Barking town centre have now been given artistic makeovers as part of the “Paint the Town” project. Under the scheme – supported by the Outer London Fund – Barking and Dagenham Council commissioned three artists to spruce up some of the town’s shop shutters, signage and colour schemes, in a bid to boost business. A further six shops are scheduled to benefit. Cameron Geddes, the borough’s regeneration lead, said that the project was one of many
initiatives aimed at increasing economic confidence in the area, including the creation of Short Blue Place and the Icehouse Quarter. “We are aiming to create thriving communities, whether it be businesses or residents, it is important that we invest in our town centres, high streets and shopping parades,” he said. The artists responsible for the work are Zarah Hussain, Luke James, and the We Are Laura collective, made up of Laura Middlehurst and Laura Woolf.
Consent for recycling plant
Iceni plans for gascoigne and sainsbury’s
ReFood UK has won planning permission for a £30 million food-waste recycling plant at the London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP) at Dagenham Dock. The anaerobic digestion plant will be capable of turning up to 160,000 tonnes of food waste into lowcarbon biogas and liquid fertiliser. ReFood commercial director Philip Simpson said the council’s approval for the scheme would create up to 60 jobs and ensure that London’s food waste could be diverted from landfill. Simpson said: “There is a desire within retail, hospitality and among householders to both prevent food waste and deal with it more responsibly where it does arise.”
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Planning and development consultancy, Iceni Projects, is preparing to submit a hybrid planning application to regenerate the eastern part of the Gascoigne estate in Barking. Proposals include the demolition of existing properties at this part of the site and 1,575 homes, a primary school, secondary school and a new medical centre to be built. The first phase to be delivered in 2014, comprises around 400 homes and the medical centre. Iceni Projects has submitted an application to Barking and Dagenham Council for a new Sainsbury’s supermarket in Barking, which the firm says will create 450 full and parttime jobs.
Bold | News
Design competition for Barking Spa in pocket park Architectural ideas to transform a 0.26-ha brownfield site in Barking into green space and a community facility will be put forward to form a design competition in 2014. Candidates have been given guidelines to build a spa at the site, which will be situated in a ‘pocket park’ and will include treatment rooms, a sauna and bar and events space, as well as a cycle hub facility. Health and beauty therapists currently operating spa treatments at the Barking Bathhouse are likely to transfer to the new venue. An exhibition of entries will be put on public display, which a panel of judges will consider. Following a shortlisting process and the selection of a winner, it is hoped that the facility will be open to the public by 2015.
Sanofi sports ground handover Barking and Dagenham Council has taken ownership of the May & Baker Sports and Social Club, with its 21 hectares of sports fields. They will be leased to the newly formed charitable trust, May & Baker Eastbrook Community Club (M&B Club), which will run the facilities. The move follows the closure of pharmaceutical giant Sanofi’s manufacturing plant in Rainham Road, Dagenham, and is part of the 43-ha site’s regeneration as it becomes a science, technology,
business, manufacturing and retail park branded “businesseast”. Sanofi’s local land development leader Mark Bass said the firm’s businesseast regeneration programme and the preservation of the site’s sporting facilities were central to its commitment to leave a positive legacy in Dagenham. “Handing over our sports grounds and the M&B Club to the council, and the setting up a charitable trust to run them, was a key part of our plans,” he said.
Gongs for housing Two housing developments in Barking have won industry awards. The Sunday Times British Homes Awards in October recognised Barking Riverside as ‘development of the year’, while Anne Mews (pictured right) was awarded Best Affordable Housing Scheme. Bellway Homes’ Barking Riverside, is one of the largest residential schemes in the country with 10,800 homes on 175 hectares on completion. With the first phase concluded, Barking Riverside now includes a school, place of worship and superb landscaping.
Judges said: “This scheme stands out thanks to its greenery, proximity to the river, above average number of houses for a new build scheme, and affordability.” Karen Coulsen, sales director at Bellway Essex, said: “We are really proud of what has been achieved this year at City East, and the whole team at Barking Riverside is delighted that the development has been recognised for its great qualities. “Buyers at City East are becoming part of something really exciting, so it’s no wonder that homes here are selling well.”
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Countdown star opens STEM centre
Go Kart track opens The UK’s largest indoor go kart track has opened in Barking and Dagenham. Capital Karts redeveloped a warehouse on the Rippleside Commercial Estate to build the facility. It had been vacant for three years. A 1050 metre track was built for the venue’s “RiMO karts”, which are used at some world famous tracks, including the Michael and Ralf
Schumacher tracks in Germany. Cabinet member for regeneration, Councillor Cameron Geddes said: ‘Capital Karts have created a fantastic facility which I am sure will go from strength to strength – they’ve recognised Barking and Dagenham is an ideal location for such facilities and they are firmly established within the local business community.”
“Business friendly” borough rewarded Barking and Dagenham has been named ‘best all round small business friendly borough’ in the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) awards for London. It was marked out for its skills, jobs and enterprise board, created by Barking and Dagenham Enterprise, which has seen the council invest heavily in ensuring local businesses benefit from the council’s economic development agenda. The FSB said support to local business was
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comprehensive, with special mention for advisory services for businesses and workspace through Barking Enterprise Centre. David Harley, the council’s group manager for economic development and sustainable communities, said: “Winning the overall award at the inaugural ceremony is recognition for the work done to support small businesses in the borough with the wide range of enterprise and business support available.”
Carol Vorderman MBE has opened Barking and Dagenham’s new Gazelle science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) centre, one of only two of its kind in England. Vorderman, famed for her mathematical prowess on Channel 4’s Countdown, joined students trying out a range of crime-scene investigation technology. She said: “There are so many different career opportunities out there linked to STEM subjects.” College principal and chief executive officer Cathy Walsh said the new centre would help deliver a new generation of STEMqualified workers. “This is an exciting time for our area, and its role in the development of the STEM economy, especially with plans for development of the Sanofi site and its potential for attracting more STEM industries, and consequently more STEM jobs,” she said.
FLUENT IN INDUSTRIAL, LOGISTICS AND DATA CENTRES ACROSS LONDON
507
1.2 MILLION
ÂŁ1.4 BILLION
30 HECTARES
58
CUSTOMERS
SQ M OF LETTABLE SPACE
PORTFOLIO
OF DEVELOPMENT LAND
ESTATES
With an attractive portfolio of existing property and an extensive land bank on sites adjacent to major conurbations and transportation hubs, we are able to deliver exceptional product in key markets across London.
SEGRO.com/propertysearch Heathrow | Park Royal | Greater London Data as at June 30th 2013.
The future of the high street, how to breathe life into flagging town centres, is up for lively debate. In east London, Barking can point to nationally recognised examples of regeneration, where the town centre has been given a new heart. James Wood finds successful treatment is ongoing 10
Bold | Barking town centre
Barking rising
H
ow a town’s fortunes can change. As recently as a decade or so ago, Barking was viewed, perhaps ungenerously, as one of the capital’s time-warp towns, with ailing businesses trying to survive on its struggling streets, which looked in need of a good makeover. Now – while Grimsey, Portas and others debate solutions for the high street in the age of online shopping – Barking town centre (left) continues to collect accolades as a paragon of renewal, and developers view their investment in regeneration projects as part of a long-term commitment. Olivier Soulier, deputy director at Bouygues Development, says: “Our strategy is to focus on regeneration. It is a long-term partnership, as we’ve been in the borough for more than ten years. We’re a development partner for the regeneration of the town centre and the new Asda store, creating a mixed scheme, but also public realm and amenity space.” With award-winning social housing schemes and public spaces, vast improvements in the town’s schools, an emerging creative quarter and extensive and successful regeneration, Barking – like most town centres – still has challenges, but is being transformed with strategies to address them. Barking market now runs on four days a week and operator Charfleets says it is an integral part of the
shopping scene and states that the market hosts 120 pitches, attracting 14,000 visitors each day. The archetypal east London market can define a place like Barking. With the borough’s population becoming much more diverse, this is now mirrored through the offer and is part of its attraction, says market manager Frank Nash. ”One of the reasons it is so successful is that there is such a great variety of stores that reflect the demographics of the borough, with a real mix of ethnicities,” he says. However, the market splits opinion fairly equally between supporters and detractors. Barking is becoming known for high-quality design and the council’s ambition is to ensure that this extends through the town centre, including the main retail street. To achieve this, it is developing plans to improve public realm around the market and the layout of the stalls. Lakis Pavlou, director of the retail team at property consultants GVA, highlights the market’s importance to the town’s economy: “I think you’d be surprised how much the town centre relies on the market. It does work and though I think there is a perception of it being of no value, it does pull in people to the town centre.” Elsewhere, a rising population in the capital means start-up companies are looking east and finding that this once unfashionable part of east London actually has a lot to offer.
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Bold | Barking town centre
A culture of entrepreneurship is developing in Barking, leading to the establishment of Barking Enterprise Centre (BEC), which provides a service for small and mediumsized businesses, offering flexible workspace and a free support and advice service. It was set up by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and is run by business solution company, Agilisys.
Mark Kass, head of enterprise and economic development at Agilisys and head of the BEC, says: “We are actively encouraging small businesses to move into the borough and the best way of doing that is to offer affordable, flexible workspace – real easy-in, easy-out access.” One prospect of interest both to the council and Barking based businesses is the reality of “London
moving east”, an occurrence in large part due to Shoreditch and Tech City already saturated with start-ups and corporates coming in accompanied by rising rents, persuading businesses to look at options elsewhere. With initiatives like the Barking Enterprise Centre, the town is starting to register on these firms’ radars. Wunmi Elifosi, whose graphic design and marketing company, We
Barking Enterprise Centre offers affordable, flexible workspace for small and medium-sized businesses.
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Bold | Barking town centre
“There is such a great opportunity here at the enterprise centre for people who want to start a business” Create Media, is based at the centre, says: “Having my own office is something I thought would take five or six years, so it’s amazing that there is such a great opportunity here at the enterprise centre for people who want to start a business.” In education, the emphasis on skillbased learning has led to the creation of the Technical Skills Academy (TSA, pictured right), run by Barking & Dagenham College, which offers high-quality, vocational training to people between the ages of 16 and 19. Since the academy opened in September 2013, students have been able to benefit from hands-on, skillbased learning in a real workplace environment through a range of vocational training courses in beauty, cookery, construction, media studies and entrepreneurship. The TSA boasts fabulous views of the London skyline from its roof, demonstrating just how close central London and Canary Wharf are to the town. It is fronted by the Short Blue Place public square, which opened in October 2013. Surrounded by one of the town’s oldest buildings and two new structures, the square – designed by architects Patel Taylor and Muf – was named after the fishing fleet operated by the Hewett family in the North Sea, at one time the largest such fleet of trawlers. At the turn of the 19th
century, with fish numbers dwindling in the increasingly polluted Thames, Barking was losing the industry that had been central to its economy. Barking and Dagenham Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, Councillor Cameron Geddes, points to past developments that are making the town known for the creation of high-quality public space. Barking has previously been recognised for its town square and the arboretum, which won the European Prize for Public Space in 2008 – and many other awards since.
“I am delighted that Short Blue Place is following on from that success and has been shortlisted for the National Urban Design Public Sector Award,“ he says. “However this is not just about creating an awardwinning public realm, we also want to create an environment for residents and visitors to enjoy.” Art projects, like Paint the Town and UP! Barking, aim to improve the appearance of the town centre in a striking, original way and engage with the growing young population. An improved residential offer is
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Bold | Barking town centre
another key element of Barking town centre regeneration, marked by estate renewal programmes. Work is progressing on the Gascoigne estate, developed by the council and its partner, East Thames Group. Four tower blocks and four low rise blocks were demolished as part of the first phase, to be replaced with brand new housing – a mixture of social rent, affordable rent and privately owned houses. In the second phase, scheduled to start in 2014, a further 934 homes will be demolished and replaced with new homes. Geddes says: “Gascoigne is an iconic estate in the borough so it’s important we get this right. In East Thames we’re confident that we have a partner that can help us to achieve our aim – quality new housing and a vibrant and sustainable community.” Delivering housing in the town centre shows Barking and Dagenham Council implementing solutions to the great debate on the demise of retail in our high streets. The success of this strategy is backed up by yet another award with Anne Mews, the council housing estate at the town’s William Street Quarter picking up the Best Affordable Housing Development at the Sunday Times British Homes Awards in October 2013. The regeneration of Barking continues to be high on the priority list of its proactive council, with improvements in the public realm, housing, education and business support delivering change to appeal to residents, both established and incoming, in a changing demographic and a community with aspirations. Presenting affordability for young businesses, attractive public realm and a flexible range of accommodation for residents, Barking’s image too, is quickly rising in the perceptions of those who are investing in its very different future.
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Barking town centre’s award-winning arboretum (above), and the terrazzo.
Bouygues Development Creating sustainable solutions, locally and nationally, to provide high quality regeneration projects
Elizabeth House | 39 York Road | London | SE1 7NQ Tel: +44 (0)207 401 0020 bouygues-development.com
East river
London’s newest neighbourhoods are emerging, creating places and forming communities. Roding Riverside is shaping its distinct identity, becoming established beside Barking town centre, with the Icehouse Cultural Quarter at its heart. Colin Marrs explores
F
or Steve Drury, the 2005 announcement that London had won the Olympics was a mixed blessing: the offices of his company – developer Rooff – were on land earmarked for the new Olympic Park development. So he set off around east London looking for a new base, a search that led him to a scene of industrial desolation in an unfashionable part of Barking. Just nine years on, however,
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that site is not only home to a new headquarters for Rooff, but is also the beating heart of a scheme which is transforming the area. The Roding Riverside quarter is taking shape on the original site of Barking town centre, west of the current Abbey Green. This spot was originally home to an abbey, built in 666 and closed 900 years later during the dissolution of the monasteries, and later becoming the biggest
fishing port in England by 1850. After the Short Blue Fleet was relocated to Norfolk, the malting industry arrived. After 20th century industrial decline, the area is being reborn once again. The Rooff director says: “I found something that looked very interesting amongst the dereliction. I did some property searches and discovered that the two old buildings, the Granary and the Malthouse, were owned by the London Development Agency and the council.” The organisations had bought the buildings in 2003 and earmarked them for a new artistic quarter. Drury opened negotiations with the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC), which was then in charge of breathing new life into the area and which had prepared a masterplan for the site. An agreement in principle was signed and in 2009, LTGDC gained
Bold | Roding Riverside
planning permission for 6,300sq m of commercial space and 272 homes. The following year Rooff bought the Granary building (left) and moved in as an anchor tenant, adding 2,430sq m of commercial space. Meanwhile, arts organisations were moving into the Malthouse building – which, in 2012, Rooff also bought – and is now 70% occupied. A residential element, built by Bouygues Development, was sold to Barking and Dagenham Council to provide a mix of social and affordable housing, and is set to be completed next year. Drury says an artistic community is now established in the buildings, including film-makers, furniture designers and fine artists, as well as smaller firms including hair designers, food importers and producers. An agreement has been reached to let the Granary’s second floor to a major fashion retailer. The next phase will see the two buildings connected by a cafe. Drury says: “When I look at the site compared to how it was, there is a great sense of achievement. We have created a quality destination.” Nearby, developer Estates and Agency has submitted plans for Abbey Retail Park to develop a 9,544sq m Sainsbury’s superstore (above right). The scheme will take up around half of the four-hectare site, and according to Ian Anderson, executive director at the developer’s planning consultant, Iceni Projects, the company is examining options for the rest of the site, all of which include residential. “Providing highquality homes is a major part of all the proposals,” says Anderson, “The site fronts Abbey Green, and has an underutilised boundary on the river frontage. It’s a few minutes’ walk from Barking station, and benefits from direct access into the town centre.”
“When I look at the site compared to how it was, there is a great sense of achievement. We have created a quality destination” Elsewhere, Fresh Wharf Developments and Countryside Properties are developing a 6.8-ha brownfield site that used to house much of the area’s historical fishing fleet. The first commercial units were developed on Muirhead Quay in 1999, and this part has since grown into a thriving 10,800sq m industrial estate. Current tenants include distribution firms attracted by direct access to the North Circular Road (A406). A separate industrial estate, the lively Fresh Wharf, has a wide range of tenants, including mechanics, engineers, wholesale food and drink companies, a music studio, recycling facility and the Metropolitan Police’s 3,500sq m Custody and Patrol base.
The final development phase of the Fresh Wharf site (above) will see its northern end, close to the historic town quay, turned into a mixed-use quarter comprising new homes, commercial and community space. Environmental improvements are proposed, including completion of the riverside walkway, public spaces and a wildlife-orientated “green screen” alongside the North Circular. Access to the pedestrian bridge over this road to Newham will also be improved. All of these developments mean Roding Riverside is taking on its own identity. Drury says: “Roding Riverside will tie in with the Broadway Theatre to create a new leisure destination. It is an exciting place to be around.”
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Fresh Wharf Developments and Countryside Properties are working together to regenerate Barking Fresh Wharf
New Housing Riverside Barking Regeneration Opportunity Investment
Development
Improvement
www.freshwharf.co.uk 0208 594 2400 For more information on Countryside Properties please visit www.countryside-properties-corporate.com
Bold | Map
Development Map Projects in Barking and Dagenham 01 Icehouse Cultural Quarter 02 Businesseast 03 Barking Riverside 04 London Sustainable Industries Park 05 Orion Park 06 William Street Quarter 07 Lymington Fields 08 Gascoigne estate 09 SportHouse 10 The Leys 11 Goresbrook Village 12 Thames View East 13 Barking Enterprise Centre 14 Dagenham Business Centre 15 Academy Central 16 Marks Gate 17 Beam Park 18 Capital Karts
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Bold | Projects
Projects
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Bold | Projects
Barking Riverside London’s largest regeneration site, Barking Riverside, will feature seven distinct neighbourhoods comprising 10,800 homes, bordering extensive parkland and two kilometres of Thames riverside. The development is spread over 170-ha and will feature a mix of tenures and housing types, catering for all, from young families to elderly residents. The site benefits from outline planning consent and a S106 agreement between Barking Riverside Limited (a joint venture between Bellway Homes and the Greater London Authority) and the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. When completed it will house 29,000 people supported by the development of 65,500sq m of commercial, retail and leisure development which will create 6,000 jobs. All of this is underpinned
by additional social infrastructure including five new schools, health centres, places of worship, community facilities, new public open spaces and green infrastructure. During stage one, 357 homes were built alongside a new community hub, the Rivergate Centre, which included a new primary school, church, health and community facilities. Another primary, secondary and special school, creating 2,300 school places is planned for stage two, which will sit alongside a district centre. Barking and Dagenham has the highest birth rate in England and the new schools will help to address rising demand. Southern Housing manages 167 homes for social and intermediate rent in stage one. A further 246 homes for social and intermediate rent are currently being built, due to complete by the beginning of 2015, and will be managed by London
and Quadrant Housing Trust. Around the same time Bellway Homes will finish 83 private homes, along with a foodstore and shops. A further three plots of land adjacent to these initial phases are intended to be released for development during summer 2014 for a further 400-500 homes, subject to planning. A rail link with a new station in the heart of the Barking Riverside scheme holds the key to unlocking the full potential of the site. Development of the later stages is tied to the four-kilometre extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking section of London Overground, from Barking town centre to Barking Riverside. As soon as a commitment to the rail extension is confirmed, development of a further 3,000 homes and 26,600sq m of commercial, retail and leisure development can immediately be unlocked through planning consent.
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Bold | Projects
Thames View East and William Street Quarter Thames View East – the public/private scheme of 276 homes for affordable rent – is nearing completion. Designed by architect Pollard Thomas Edwards, built by contractor Jerram Falkus Construction, with Barking and Dagenham Council providing the land, the homes are marketed for rent through Barking and Dagenham Reside. The majority are for people who are working and living with parents or in expensive private rented accommodation. The sites were home to low rise, medium rise and tower blocks which, following consultation with residents, were redeveloped into traditional
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housing. The new homes will reach Level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, and the estate is adjoined by a £300,000 urban sports park for 11 to 19-year-olds, designed by HAGS SMP in conjunction with young people. The development is the result of a partnership – TPFL Regeneration – between Barking and Dagenham Council and Explore Investments, the investment arm of Laing O’Rourke, which is managing the delivery of the project. Institutional asset developer Long Harbour is funding the work and Barking and Dagenham Reside, the council-owned company, will rent and manage the homes.
A £76 million joint venture, Barking and Dagenham Reside, has been ranked among the most proactive solutions to the housing crisis by a consortium of property chiefs. The new properties will be rented out at 50-80% of market rates over the sixdecade course of the deal. The homes will eventually revert to council ownership. Reside is also delivering 201 homes at the William Street Quarter, from one-bedroom flats to four-bedroom houses to be completed in summer 2014. The masterplan also includes the completed Barking Enterprise Centre, and 31 houses at Anne Mews.
Bold | Projects
Short Blue Place Short Blue Place, the new public space in Barking town centre, links the Technical Skills Academy – and in the future the new London Road/ North Street development – with the main retail area, East Street, and will frame the entrance to the new Asda supermarket, under construction by Bouygues Development. Once the supermarket opens in 2015, Short Blue Place will be accessible from both East Street and London Road, promoting pedestrian access from London Road to other destinations around the town centre. The supermarket is at the corner of London Road and North Street, facing Abbey Green and the historic Barking Abbey, so has been designed to integrate with its historic surroundings, through the use of sympathetic, traditional materials. The new public space gets its name
from the Short Blue fishing fleet, which turned Barking into Britain’s busiest fishing port and was owned by the Hewett family, whose Fawley House stands at the entrance. It features an interpretation plaque detailing Barking’s maritime heritage, and a ship sculpture depicting the history of the Short Blue fleet. Continuing the award-winning public realm in Barking Town Square, Short Blue Place, which features on the cover of this edition of BOLD, received support from the mayor of London’s Outer London Fund. The design includes granite paving, a distinctive Scots pine surrounded by a granite bench, a row of pleached trees, new street furniture and a new wall enclosing part of the space. Short Blue Place has been nominated for a National Urban Design Group Award 2014.
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Bold | Projects
businesseast The former Sanofi plant in Dagenham is being transformed into the businesseast, science and technology park – BEST for short – incorporating retail and manufacturing elements. Since announcing the closure of its pharmaceutical operation in 2012, Sanofi has worked on its project to regenerate the site by strategically selling land and buildings to organisations that will introduce new businesses and employment. Half of the 44-ha site, including playing fields and a sports and social club, has been donated to the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham for future community use through the formation of a charitable trust. The remaining 22ha of land, including almost seven hectares of specialist buildings, will form the new development being marketed as businesseast. Planning consent is in place for a Sainsbury’s supermarket and petrol station on a four-hectare section. Plans are also advanced for a proposed NHS health facility and a
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family pub/restaurant on other parts of the site, with remaining parcels under offer for other business uses. The buildings and facilities to be retained could support innovation companies, potentially those seeking startup R&D laboratory premises or growing space for expansion. Laboratories with sterile manufacturing facilities and associated support space are available for purchase or lease, suitable for bioscience, chemistry, microbiology and other sciencerelated businesses. Situated on the edge of green belt land, the site is two minutes from the District line underground station at Dagenham East. London City, Southend and Stansted airports are easily accessible and it has excellent road links from the A12, A13 and M25 with rail links into Europe. The site, where for nearly 80 years, life-saving medicines were made, has excellent conference facilities ideal for use as a venue for scientific or R&D events and meetings.
Bold | Education
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Bold | LSIP
At Dagenham Dock’s cleantech hub, the London Sustainable Industries Park, C02-beating companies are moving into the newly finished plots, creating a symbiotic network of worldbeating green industry. Sarah Herbert looks at the next steps for the UK’s leading green team
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Bold | LSIP
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he London Sustainable Industries Park (LSIP) at Dagenham Dock is one of a new breed. The UK’s largest concentration of environmental industries and technologies, it accommodates, supports and grows environmental technology businesses and sustainable industries, all in a symbiotic relationship with each other, sharing resources and exchanging waste or by-products in a closed-loop system. It has been internationally recognised as an exemplar for future developments across the capital, throughout the UK and around the world. The 24-ha scheme is at the heart of the London mayor’s Green Enterprise District. The mayor committed £10.3 million for the infrastructure works programme, now completed. Ultimately, it will provide over 125,000sq m of environmentally friendly business space for one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, and attract £500 million in private sector investment, and around £35 million public sector funding. Since 2002, nearly 1,400 new jobs and 70,000sq m of employment space have been created. In its collaborative closed-loop system, waste-to-energy projects, combined heat and power schemes, renewable energy technologies and recycling and reprocessing facilities share resources, exchanging waste heat, water or by-products to maximise efficiency, kickstart innovation, minimise waste and save money. Companies also gain a competitive edge: a similar cleantech cluster in Austria shows revenues growing 18% faster in real terms than the global market. Already, the first two tenants on
the park, Closed Loop Recycling plastics facility and the TEG anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, are hooked up: Closed Loop Recycling uses the waste heat from TEG’s AD process, while TEG uses some of the water produced by Closed Loop’s plastic recycling process. And the recently completed infrastructure work has set up the utilities and pipework for all newcomers to be able to benefit from the same system. The work – funded by government and European grants and carried out by VolkerFitzpatrick for the Greater London Authority – also constructed new roads, installed a sustainable urban drainage system, and built footpaths and cycle paths. To maximise the site’s attraction to both companies and workers, the infrastructure work transformed the public realm, with attractive landscaping including 800 new trees, and a lighting sytem, ‘Power Up’, designed by Jason Bruges Studio, which lights up the electricity substation with balloonlike bulbs that change colour as electricity demand changes. With the infrastructure now complete, eight fully serviced plots are ready for green industries in this urban woodland setting, with tree-lined roadways, and a new Sustrans cycleway. All incoming businesses will also be able to benefit from the hub’s two research facilities. The first, a collaboration between the Institute for Sustainability and the University of East London, is undertaking research into ‘cradle to cradle’ (C2C) thinking on waste streams. The C2C demonstrator plant will comprise a 10 x 5m single-storey timber building containing heaters, a special kiln and finishing drums,
and will process by-products from three businesses – food grade plastic from Closed Loop, TEG’s AD plant and Chinook Urban Mining. Chinook’s Energy from Waste facility will process commercial and industrial waste. The process incorporates comprehensive end-stage recycling technology to recover all glass and metal, contributing to the closed loop
economy for materials. The facility will generate circa 20MW of renewable, low carbon electricity and uses clean technology for the recovery process. Chinook will create 55 jobs directly on the LSIP site. The C2C research programme is establishing a set of principles that mimic nature, to change the way we make things with the aim of cutting out all waste, where nothing is sent to landfill or down-cycled, but waste is either up-cycled, reused, or turned into other products. The second, run by the Institute for Sustainability with the Royal College of Arts and Imperial College, will be a three-storey, living laboratory, recreating a ‘real life’ home to study residents’ interactions with energy-saving and water-conserving technology. The data gathered will help design user-friendly ways of reducing consumption, while the building will provide a user-testing facility for the development of new products. The hub will also be home to a marketing suite for LSIP.
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Bold | LSIP
Closed Loop Recycling
TEG The second LSIP occupier is London’s first anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, a £21 million facility which will process 49,000 tonnes of food and green waste a year via anaerobic digestion and in-vessel composting on its 1.9-ha site. This will generate approximately 1.4MW of electricity, sufficient to power approximately 2,000 homes. This energy will be used by LSIP’s tenants. As a byproduct of the AD process of converting food waste into heat and power, the plant, shortly to be completed, will produce 36,000 tonnes of AD digestate, which acts as a fertiliser, and 14,000 tonnes of compost for agricultural use. As TEG’s first facility in the south-east, the plant is a major milestone for the company. Chief executive Mick Fishwick says: “Combined AD and IVC enables us to process a wide variety of waste streams including food waste only, green waste only or co-mingled organic waste. In addition, they produce natural organic fertiliser for use on the land and also valuable energy from waste which is fed into the National Grid.”
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LSIP’s first occupier is Closed Loop Recycling and its award-winning plant is the first in the UK to recycle plastic soft drink and milk bottles (of PET and HDPE plastics respectively) back into ‘food grade’ plastics for use by companies such as Marks & Spencer and Coca-Cola. Closed Loop’s £12 million expansion doubles capacity to 60,000 tonnes a year – the UK’s most advanced plastic purification facility, recycling five to six million bottles a day. Extension of the 1.2ha site means increased output of food-grade recycled plastic, improved sorting facilities, and an additional 50 low-carbon jobs. The facility will save as much carbon as taking 23,000 cars off the road. So why did Closed Loop choose LSIP? CEO Chris Dow says: “In the UK there’s enormous opportunity for environmental businesses, with increased recycling targets
and participation, which drives infrastructure growth and develops a low-carbon economy. “Locating our plant in Barking and Dagenham meant proximity to a huge population, with easy rail connections. Working with a commercially minded local authority, which ensures that business can prosper, has enabled us to triple the workforce.” “The vision of the GLA and Barking and Dagenham Council for the future is very exciting. The team needs to continue to work with the industry coming into the area – they’re all young and evolving businesses and need people who have vision and understanding for the issues that may arise. “All companies coming in to LSIP have to sit down with their neighbours, and work out what they produce, the byproducts, waste products, and synergies.”
PDM On plot five, gaining planning permission in November 2013, is a £30 million ReFood anaerobic digestion plant. Creating 60 jobs, it will be PDM’s third such plant in the UK. It will convert 160,000 tonnes of food waste a year – that would otherwise go to landfill – into biogas, at the rate of over 2,000 m3 of gas per hour, enough to power 10,000 homes, and export it to the national grid. It will also produce organic fertiliser as a byproduct. Philip Simpson, commercial
director at ReFood, comments: “This landmark plant will help to ensure that food waste arising in the London area can be transformed into renewable energy and valuable nutrients to go back on to the land. “The decision came the same week we launched the Vision 2020 report to achieve zero food waste to landfill by the end of the decade, and having the right infrastructure in place will have a major part to play in this ambition.”
Bold | Education
S nd Se n in ng fo f od was aste te to la an nd dfilll d do oesn’ esn’ es n’tt m k ma ke e se en nse e co om mme m rc cia allly y,, soc cia all l y or envi en v ronm vi rro onm nmen e ta all l y. y ReF eFoo o d, d the e UK K’’s le ead a in ng food waste food fo asste a e recyc ec cy yc cli ling ng spe ng eci cial a is ist, t, pro ovi vide des des de a gr gree ee ene er, r saf afer er an er nd d ch he eap aper er altter erna na n ati tive ve.. Ourr na Ou nati ation o wi on wd de e net e wo ork of cu cutt ttingin ngg edge ed dge ge AD pla lant ntss prov prov pr ovid ovid de a un niq qu ue e, se ecu cure r
end en d-to dto-e -end -e nd n d sol o ut utio ion n th that at con nve v rtts fo food ood d wast wa s e in st nto o ren enew new ewab ewab able e ene nerg gy, y, cutts yo yourr your ca arrb bon bon on foo ootp print rintt, an ri nd re ed du uc ce es food fo oo od d wasste t diisp d spossal al cos osts t by up p to 40 40%* in n the e pro oce ess ss. S e wh Se hat we co oul u d sa s ve e you at www. ww w re efo ood od.c co. o.uk u or ca uk c ll 0800 80 0 01 0 1 32 3 14 4.
*Fiigur u e base ass d on Apri p l 2013 01 la landfi ndfi fill l rat ll rate vs. vol vo olume m weigh weigh we ghtt gh
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Thinking space
From Early Years to Higher Education, children and students achieve better outcomes in well-designed buildings, which demonstrate to learners that they are valued. Barking and Dagenham Council invests in the future of its young people
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arking and Dagenham Council has implemented and sustained strategies to push up aspiration and attainment across its schools. For the fifth consecutive year, GCSE results have risen in the borough’s schools, even at a time when exams are becoming more challenging. A-level results rose for the seventh year, the best ever in the borough, with 73% of students receiving an A* to C grade – two per cent up on 2012. In GCSEs, attainment of five A* to C, including English and maths, results are above the national average.
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The Further Education sector is a vital provider of vocational training, equipping people with skills to meet the needs of the employment market. At Barking & Dagenham College, nine out of 10 students progress to Higher Education, apprenticeships or employment. In 2013 Ofsted rated it as outstanding for its leadership and management. Under the direction of chief executive and principal Cathy Walsh, the college has invested £13 million in transforming parts of its eight-hectare site, with a further £1.1 million allocated by the government in July 2013.
The college has a strong record in entrepreneurship and is also focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM subjects), with employers demanding improved skills among young candidates for jobs. Television personality Carol Vorderman opened the college’s new STEM Centre in October 2013. Investment in built environments contributes to rising achievements in the borough and we feature some of the schools and colleges where the learning environment has transformed pupils’ and students’ experience and results.
Bold | Education and training
Dagenham Park School One of the last in the Building Schools for the Future programme, Dagenham Park School was designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in three-storeys, organised around a light and airy atrium with large-scale graphics and accent colours. The school was built by Laing O’Rourke’s Design for Manufacture and Assembly solution, reducing costs and construction time, with off-site assembly to minimise disruption. In August 2013, the performing arts specialist school received its highest ever score of 32% A* and B grades at GCSE. It is recognised by the Department for Education as one of 100 best improving schools in terms of pupils’ progress between key stage two and GCSE.
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Bold | Education and training
Technical Skills Academy Genuine workplace training is provided to 14-19-year-olds in Barking at the Technical Skills Academy (TSA), which was commissioned by Barking and Dagenham Council and is run by Barking & Dagenham College. The TSA offers courses in vocational sectors including sustainable construction, ICT, hair and beauty and hospitality and catering. The TSA features a beauty salon, Headjogs Hair Academy, the Short Blue Restaurant and Chef’s Hat 2, a bistro with a Starbucks cafe. The £14 million, BREEAMexcellent centre, designed by Rick Mather Architects, opened in September 2012 and is part funded by the Department of Education.
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Bold | Education and training
Barking & Dagenham College Transformation of the college’s 11-ha site includes the ADPdesigned Jubilee Building, by contractor Longcross. Facilities include a cafe, commercial training restaurant and retail units for student entrepreneurs and the Gazelle Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Centre, also in use by schools.
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Bold | Education and training
George Carey Church of England Primary Architects van Heyningen and Haward’s Rivergate Centre includes the school at the heart of a new community in Barking Riverside – rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, just over a year after opening.
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Bold | Education
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Bold | Markets
Glittering Prizes Gongs, accolades and endorsement for services and regeneration projects demonstrate the scale of change and success in Barking and Dagenham
Dagenham Park Church of England School • Concrete Society Awards 2013, shortlisted • World Architecture Foundation 2012, shortlisted
Partnerships Awards 2013 – Best Alternative Deal Structure:
Best All Round Small Business Friendly Borough 2013 London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Federation of Small Businesses / London Councils Small Business Awards
Barking and Dagenham Reside (Project Edsel)
Best Public Participation Award Sanofi, Dagenham, for businesseast Brownfield Briefing Award 2013 36
Bold | Markets
Anne Mews Best Affordable Housing Development • Sunday Times British Homes Award 2013 • Regeneration British Construction Industry Award 2011 • Prime Minister’s Better Public Building, shortlisted 2011 • British Construction Industry Award 2011
Innovative Use of the Planning Process – Development Management Residents Urban Design Forum, shortlisted RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence 2012-13
Northbury Infant and Junior School RIBA Awards 2010
Barking Central / Barking Learning Centre 2011 New London Award for Joint Overall Winner New London Award for Placemaking RIBA Award for Architecture 2010 Building for Life Award Building for Life Silver Standard Housing Design Award
Education The only council with all its children’s centres rated as outstanding by Ofsted
Barking Enterprise Centre Silver Green Apple Award 2012
London Planning Awards: Best New Public Space World Architecture Festival: Commended
2008 British Construction Industry Awards: Local Authority Award European Prize for Public Urban Space 2007 MIPIM Best Mixed Use Award 2005 Housing Design Award
2009 Brick Awards: Best Use of Brick and Clay Products
Barking Riverside Development of the Year • Sunday Times British Homes Award 2013 • Buzzards Mouth Court, Completed Scheme Housing Design Awards 2013 37
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Bold | Connectivity
Electric Avenue The Gospel Oak to Barking line – GOBLIN – is getting £90 million to electrify the route and increase capacity – a step toward extending the line to Barking Riverside, as Lucy Purdy reports
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or many years, the so-called GOBLIN route lay as one of London’s forgotten railways. The 12-mile stretch was linked to electrified lines at each end, yet non-electrified itself, relying on diesel trains. Then last year London mayor Boris Johnson announced he had been able to secure investment from chancellor George Osborne for electrification, helping to boost capacity. The bigger opportunity this generates is the potential for an extension to Barking Riverside, unlocking what Johnson calls “significant regeneration” on this stretch of the Thames. A new station by the Thames at Barking Riverside would be a major catalyst, raising
values and enabling the building of 10,800 homes with 65,500sq m of commercial, retail and leisure development to progress at a much faster pace, providing new occupiers with a 25-minute journey into central London. Partners have made a strong business case for funding the extension and hope the government will recognise its importance to unlock substantial housing growth. The borough will also gain a huge boost from Crossrail. Morning peak time journeys from Chadwell Heath into Farringdon will take 24 minutes, Tottenham Court Road will be within 27 and Heathrow airport just over an hour away. The extra capacity will reduce overcrowding on services in and around Barking and Dagenham,
lift the local property market and aid future regeneration. Chadwell Heath station is being upgraded, having lifts and ticket barriers installed for Crossrail. Property prices could soar by as much as 20% around the station, according to a report by GVA. On the bus network, East London Transit Phase II means that 24hour services now run from Ilford Station to Barking Riverside, 24-hour following Transport for London’s public consultation which saw the majority in favour of the extension. Everywhere you look in Barking and Dagenham, improvements are being made to the transport network, both driving – and in response to – development. Change is afoot here – and it’s happening fast.
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Bold | Round table
BOLD partners joining together to support Barking and Dagenham 01
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01 Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Lucy Swift, LSwift@ahmm.co.uk 02 c2c, Chris Atkinson chris.atkinson@nationalexpress.com 03 Chinook Urban Mining, Peter Hynes peter.hynes@chinookum.com 04 Fonantrix, sales@fonantrix.com 05 Hapag-Lloyd, Cameron Bowie cameron.bowie@hlag.com 06 Iceni Projects, Ian Anderson IAnderson@iceniprojects.com 07 Jerram Falkus, Roger Lawson Roger.Lawson@jerramfalkus.com 08 Pollard Thomas Edwards architects Tim Metcalfe, tim.metcalfe@ptea.co.uk 09 Rooff, Steve Drury, sdrury@rooff.co.uk
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For more information about these companies, visit boldmagazine.co.uk
Bold | Round table
BARKING CENTRAL The state of town centres is a topic for animated national debate, with Bill Grimsey, Mary Portas and others contributing contrasting views. The BOLD round table brings together a panel of experts to consider what is needed to further develop and regenerate Barking’s award-winning town centre. Edited by Sarah Herbert 41
Bold | Round table
GF: Graham Farrant, chief executive, London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD), chair of the discussion “We want to think about the town centre, the challenges that high streets face and specifically, in Barking. We could think about some of the general lessons and then consider how we apply that in Barking. How we can take the place forward long-term, while serving the existing communities, which are quite deprived, and look at how Barking will change over the next 10, 12 or 15 years.”
JG: Jeremy Grint, divisional director, regeneration and economic development, LBBD “A lot has happened in Barking town centre over the past 10 years. However, the population around it seems to get poorer, which is a challenge. And despite being part of London, we still sometimes don’t seem part of the city. Another problem is welfare reform, where people shunted out of the inner city arrive in areas like Barking and Dagenham, which makes it difficult to change places like Barking town centre.
DD: Debbie Davidson, business development manager, National Skills Academy for Retail “We provide one-stop support for the retail sector, from preemployment skills to career paths. We work with council regeneration or economic development teams, and increasingly with BIDs, LEPs and town teams – anyone trying to increase footfall for an area, or make it a destination of choice.”
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IA: Ian Anderson, director, Iceni Projects “I’m a town planner. My first foray into Barking was getting planning permission for a Homebase DIY store on the Fresh Wharf site. That never happened and now it’s a brownfield opportunity site. We’ve recently put in a planning application for Sainsbury’s there, and are working on proposals for Gascoigne estate, London Road and the town centre Clockhouse.”
PM: Paul Monaghan, director, Allford Hall Monaghan Morris “We’ve been here for about 12 years. We designed Barking Central around the town hall, and recently Dagenham Park school and the William Street Quarter on the old Lintons estate, which is nearly finished. It’s pioneering modern construction methods – most of the project is made off-site. Across London AHMM has worked on BBC Television Centre, and we’re designing Google’s headquarters at King’s Cross.”
SD: Steve Drury, director – building and development, Rooff “We came to Barking when we were relocated out of Stratford in 2005 to make way for the Olympics. We stumbled across a collection of buildings in Abbey Road, and put our foot in the door – five years later we managed to buy and develop the Granary building, moving in 2011. We also bought the Malthouse, so apart from our dayjob as a building contractor, we’re taking forward the vision to develop the creative industries quarter. And we were 2013 Barking and Dagenham Business of the Year!”
DG: Dave Grange, commercial director, East Thames Group “We’re working on 1,400 new builds on the Gascoigne estate, and about 800 other social housing properties in the area. East Thames sees itself part of economic regeneration, with building communities equally as important as building houses.”
LP: Lakis Pavlou, director, GVA “I head up a mixed-use development team. I helped the [London Thames Gateway] Development Corporation sell this site [The Granary and The Malthouse] to Steve and the residential site next door to Olivier. Also helped David and Jeremy put together the London Road scheme, which we sold to Bouygues and managed to get Asda committed.”
OS: Olivier Soulier, deputy director, Bouygues Development “We’ve been involved in Barking and Dagenham for more than 10 years now. Originally it was construction services, and then it moved naturally towards development services and development strategy. We’ve been selected as a partner for the regeneration of the town centre and the new Asda store.”
KC: Kiran Chahal, artist, made Up collective “I’ve been involved in a number of arts activities and events in the town, including UP! Barking, a project producing artwork on development hoardings involving young people, and community events like Halloween Harvest.”
Bold | Round table
GF: What are the challenges facing high streets and town centres? Can you separate the high street from the town centre? How can Barking and Dagenham move forward while still serving the existing communities, which are quite deprived, with low health, employment and skill levels? DD: All the town centres I go to think their problem is unique. But it’s always to do with footfall, preventing leakage to competitor sites, and involving the community, getting them working together, within the high street, within the shopping centre. Our focus is on getting existing partnerships talking to each other. For example, as Bluewater was opening, we installed a skill shop there, which provides retail training for the unemployed and the NEETS, and gets them guaranteed interviews with the stores. The retention rate of people employed that way is significantly higher – and retailers get a retail-ready person. Retail hasn’t been seen as a career choice but a stop gap, so we introduced our ambassador scheme where big name retailers inspire the youth into looking at it as a career of choice. People think it’s all about tills or packing shelves but you could be the next person sourcing a property for a major retailer, or doing the visual merchandising. Another big part of my job is with independent retailers, the people who make the town centre different or unique. Increasingly, people are looking for a town that has a market – the next big area of growth – or quirky, independent shops. GF: Part of the challenge for Barking has always been its position in the market. It is a vibrant town, we have a market but it’s very much bottom end – we’ve got the 97p store competing
with the 99p store, the Poundstore, and the 95p store. While there are very few empty retail units, betteroff residents say they need to go somewhere else for their shopping. There might be a Sainsbury’s supermarket coming on the outskirts but what does that do – drag the middle classes to the edge but not into Barking? DD: You’ve got to first address the community that lives here and what their needs are. A resilient town centre must support the people. With all the development, you need to carefully look at the demographics and what they actually want. SD: Is the existing demographic one of the challenges? JG: The community is a mixture of white, working class, poor people; African people; then people of Asian extraction, particularly Pakistani and Bangladeshi. Peripheral shops serve some of the communities, but
TOP: Steve Drury (speaking) hosted the event at The Granary, Rooff’s head office in the Icehouse Cultural Quarter. Centre: Council chief executive Graham Farrant. Above: Lakis Pavlou of GVA (left) and Oliver Soulier, Bouygues Development.
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Bold | Round table
most shops in the centre try to cater for everybody without necessarily catering for anybody. What are we trying to provide? Hackney has arty things happening which change a place, sucking in a young, white, middle-class population. Such a population in Barking would change the town centre, dramatically. IA: We may well get one soon. London is so expensive that – for right or wrong reasons – middle-class people will move into Barking.
“London is so expensive that – for right or wrong reasons – middle-class people will move into Barking”
GF: Bellway’s homes on Barking Riverside would cost £300,000 elsewhere in London, but here sell for £250,000. And because of that £50,000 shortfall in value they don’t want to build them that quickly, so the client group is paying less, and we’re getting more social housing. Does that reinforce the current mix and is that a good thing or a bad thing? IA: It needs family housing for the middle-class ‘silent majority’ that can’t afford to pay more than £400,000 for a house. There’s an opportunity to draw in that catchment. DG: You need to offer that, because as people can afford better housing you don’t want them leaving the area. GF: In the past two years we’ve had a huge increase in families with young children, with a reduction in the over-65s. That young population is probably going to stay, using the schools, putting more pressure on infrastructure, and will then want more of a night-time economy. Should we try to develop that – or leave it to Stratford and Romford? DD: People might sit at home and shop online, but they always want somewhere where they can socialise.
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Bold | Round table
IA: And that’s where the market can really play a role as well. Until you’ve got the Prets and Caffè Neros, providing a cheap but good artisan coffee shop could be a real opportunity for the market. OS: Is there a single welcoming place in Barking town centre, where we can go for a good coffee or beer? It’s probably fair to say that this doesn’t exist at the moment. KC: It’s the betting shop, where everybody congregates if they’re male. And it’s cross-generational, one of the few places so many different cultures can meet. It’s a terrible thing, because it’s the only space that’s warm, and where people can come in whether or not they’re going to buy anything. They’re made welcome, there’s a TV screen, there are seats and people to talk to. And eventually you’re going to bet on something. JG: Another problem is that Barking is always just a little bit too far. IA: It’s perhaps perception rather than miles to some people. Barking’s got the core ingredients of being a really good town. It’s got fantastic public transport and roads. It’s got the river, it’s close to Stratford with Canary Wharf on the other side of the water. And actually, an incoming vibrant population should also be a good thing if you can harness the benefits of that.
Above: Kiran Chahal, Debbie Davidson and Ian Anderson. This image: Lakis Pavlou, Olivier Soulier,Graham Farrant (speaking) and Jeremy Grint. Opposite, above: Ian Anderson, Paul Monaghan (speaking) and Steve Drury.
SD: People who visit us always say: “I didn’t realise it was so close.” GF: I don’t think there’s anywhere within the M25 with Barking’s price per square foot. That’s my challenge – how do we tip into the next league? Might it be the Gospel Oak to Barking extension to Barking Riverside?
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Bold | Round table
JG: For the town centre as a whole, there might be housing growth over the next five years on the edges and even in the middle of Barking town centre, but what is that going to do for the lunchtime economy? You need jobs in the town centre. SD: There has been an interesting shift this year within the creative industries quarter, with the publicly funded organisations – which rely on grants – shrinking, and small microbusinesses taking their place. Some of them might be start-ups and they come and go, but I’m getting interest from people at that small, bottom end of the market. JG: Ground-floor commercial spaces below flats sit empty because nobody can afford them. We’ve got a building right in the town centre on the market. It’s a great site, and the owners have two offers. One from a betting shop and one from Costa Coffee – the betting shop is offering nearly twice as much – you know where that’s going to go. As we can’t block the betting shop in planning terms, the only way to stop that is by the council subsidising rates. But economically, the council just can’t keep doing that. KC: I come from a different perspective. The demographic of the town centre is used to being given things free, such as the ice rink at Christmas. People need to be encouraged to actually change their physical space themselves. If you have a beautiful town and you create beautiful buildings, people should feel able to make their mark. Young people use the window of one unused building as a mirror for dance lessons eight months of the year. If you allow people to have a creative input on their space, especially on buildings
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Right: Kiran Chahal, made Up collective. Below: Olivier Soulier of Bouygues Development (speaking) and Lakis Pavlou, GVA.
“The challenge was always to get investors here – but when we managed to get them to visit the area, it was sold”
Bold | Round table
SD: We’ve tried the Roding Riverside brand concept to find a more recognisable area that people outside Barking might find they like.
that aren’t making any money at the moment, no one loses. On the market, whoevever comes in will have to compete on a low price level. Food would be the first option, like the existing fish trader, who caters for a lot of different cultures and classes – he’s the bridge to the future. At the moment, the market is a visual cacophony of stuff, with no space to rest.
PM: It has everything going for it. There are so many good projects completing in the next year in the middle of the town, and such highquality public realm compared to any town in the east. You need to attract better developers, like Urban Splash who not only create value, but also create vision for a place, or Cathedral, with their ethos of changing places.
IA: The current market is more likely to put people off than encourage them to move to London Road. Whereas it should make them say: “This is great. It’s really vibrant, it’s got things about it that makes it different from other places.” That’s why I think it’s so important.
LP: The problem is economics and land values. The public sector’s had a huge role to play in bringing some of these sites forward; the private sector just can’t afford to do it on its own.
GF: Some people say, “Isn’t it great, look at how crowded it is – it’s providing a great service.” But there’s another group which says: “I’d never go there in my life, I hate it.” How do you bridge that gap?
KC: As well as talking about building buildings, we could talk more about growing communities creatively. You have an amazing council that is openminded in coming up with creative ways of changing things. You have beautiful buildings – but you have to grow communities around them too.
JG: The market also provides a lot of local employment.
IA: London’s dynamic, so whatever Barking does it’s got to do it quick, before Crossrail’s finished, because it will suddenly open up other places, like Barking, into London.
GF: In terms of the housing market, what attracted Bouygues to Barking as a place to invest – and are those characteristics still there? OS: First of all, Barking is a good place to live – and in 25 minutes you’re in the heart of the city. However, there are two challenges. The first one is probably the current value, which makes any development difficult – £300 per square foot would be enough to make it happen but we are not yet there. Then there is a problem of reputation, the perception of Barking. The challenge was always to get investors here – but when we managed to get them to visit the area, it was sold.
Top: Steve Drury of Rooff. Above: Graham Farrant (speaking, left) and Jeremy Grint with Dave Grange. IA: So, if all the ingredients are there – is it more about the branding? We’ve just developed the previously rundown Ocean estate in Stepney under the Vivo brand. It has turned that part of Stepney Green into somewhere quite desirable.
DG: Maybe we need a USP. What is that single thing that attracts people to here? What we can create? It just has to be one single important thing that the community will be drawn to. GF: It’s got to be known as Barking, London and not ‘Barking, Essex.’ Because Barking is absolutely – visibly – a part of London. OS: The historical part of Barking is a strength that could be built on.
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At East Thames we’re firmly focused on housing and regeneration in east London and Essex. This was the case when we started as a small housing association in 1979, and that commitment hasn’t changed. We firmly believe that good quality housing is a key ingredient in building balanced and sustainable communities. We are proud to be working with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and the local community on the regeneration of the Gascoigne Estate. More than 1,400 homes will be rebuilt. Offering high quality, modern homes for the community. Gascoigne Estate
29-35 West Ham Lane, Stratford London E15 4PH 48
0845 600 0830
www.east-thames.co.uk
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THAMES
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Right move
Long dominated by social housing, Barking and Dagenham is ready to reap the benefits of a more diverse population, with developers building family homes that remain affordable. Mark Smulian looks at how the increasing quality, quantity and choice of houses has put the borough on the home-buying – and investment – map
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ising house prices are a widespread concern in London, with strong growth continuing to defy national trends. With a ripple effect particularly driven by inflation in the inner boroughs, prices have been forced up across almost the whole of the capital, putting out of reach places that were once affordable. For Barking and Dagenham, as an outer borough, this is good news: its sites are now valuable enough to
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attract developers’ interest, while the homes they are building remaining among the best value in London. Long dominated by social housing, the borough is becoming more mixed as developers provide homes of all kinds, and with inner London families moving in search of more space. Developments in progress, or on-site shortly, include Barking Riverside (now well into its stride), the redevelopment of Gascoigne estate and Goresbrook Village, Lymington Fields in Chadwell Heath and Thames View East (TVE), part of the old Thames View estate (see page 52). The council is also developing bungalows for older residents, as well as more than 25 wheelchair-adapted homes at Alex Guy Gardens and 12 at Luke Allsopp Square.
“There will be property that is affordable for first-time buyers, and indeed second-time ones, and that in turn will attract investors”
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London’s deputy mayor for housing, land and property, Richard Blakeway, sees the developments as opportunities to meet the mayor’s housing objectives. “We recently hosted an event with business leaders and investors keen to explore opportunities in Barking and Dagenham,” says Blakeway. “The mayor is committed to delivering more affordable housing across London, and as such we are working with Barking and Dagenham council to maximise local housing supply, where award-winning designs will provide a platform for the housing market to grow. We are also exploring infrastructure funding options to unlock further development.” Richard Burrows, managing director of Bellway, Essex, is leading
work on the huge development that will deliver more than 10,000 homes over 20 years. He says: “Barking Riverside is one of the best selling developments in the whole Bellway group. The most popular are three to four-bedroom houses.” Burrows adds: “Buyers are moving to Barking from London because they are attracted by the many advantages for families, with landscaped green spaces and its riverside location, as well as our award-winning homes.” According to Carl Vann, a director of architect Pollard Thomas Edwards (PTE) which masterplanned Lymington Fields and the TVE area, people coming to Barking and Dagenham want aspirational design, as well as space and value. “Property prices in the inner
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London boroughs can be 400% of salary levels, and so unattainable for many people,” he says. “Homes in Barking and Dagenham are suitable for people coming from inner east London looking for homes with space for children. The housing being built is quite ‘aspirational suburbia’ – it’s high quality and high density but recognisable as a suburb.” Vann says the schemes in which PTE is involved will be “designed around avenues, mews and terraces, not as cul-de-sacs, but on a traditional London street pattern. “These are homes for people who watch Grand Designs. They won’t have fake Victorian detailing or other pastiche effects, but be contemporary and built mainly from brick, because that is what the housebuilders and local authority tell us people want.” Greg Kaye, regional sales manager of Lovell (due to start work on Lymington Fields in the winter of 2013-14), says: “There are now new houses and apartments being built which will attract young professional people and families, and when Crossrail comes it will be very quick into the City and central London. “There will be property that is affordable for first-time buyers, and indeed second-time ones, and that in turn will attract investors.” Andrew Loveday is sales director of Countryside Properties, which is redeveloping the Goresbrook Village estate to create 149 new homes – mostly three or four-bedroom houses – including 98 homes for council tenants, and 51 for private sale. He says: “The scheme is in an area that offers affordable homes with good access to the City and central London. With continued investment, we expect it to become a more attractive place to live and invest in, as we have seen our sites in Newham become popular places to purchase.” Metropolitan Housing Trust will
partner developer Lovell at Lymington Fields. A spokesman says: “Barking and Dagenham is an ever-changing area with huge development potential and a need for affordable housing.” A Crossrail station will be built at Chadwell Heath station on the borough boundary. Estate agent John Speller, a senior branch manager with Douglas Allen, says: “It’s on the up partly because of Crossrail,” he says. “There has been a ripple effect from central London, though it’s taken time to reach here, but you’ll now find families in inner London moving to Barking, bringing money and ploughing it into that market.” “I’ve seen prices rise by 15% in 18 months. One two-bed, end-ofterrace we sold to a developer for £185,000 went only a few months later for £250,000 – a huge jump. “It helps that the area looks better as 1970s tower blocks come down. It brings a feelgood factor when people see new houses being built instead.”
Left: Barking Riverside – the completed City East scheme (right) and an artists impression of the fourth phase (left). above: The first completed houses at Thames View East.
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What’s going up? Gascoigne estate Old tower blocks have been, or will be, demolished to be replaced by a mixture of houses and low rise flats. The council has appointed East Thames Group as development partner on the eastern end of Gascoigne. A full masterplanning exercise began in September 2013. The Leys Some 215 older homes are due for demolition and will be replaced by 158 homes at Birdbrook Close (phase one) and Wellington Drive (phase two). The first phase is due for completion by February 2015. Barking Riverside This long-term development ultimately has space and approval for 10,400 homes. Bellway’s agreement with the Greater London Authority allocates it 51%, with other developers invited to take all or part of the remainder.
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Goresbrook Village Work has started on 149 homes – mostly terraced housing with gardens – replacing three 16-storey tower blocks. Countryside Properties expects the first new homes to be ready by March 2015.
Thames View East This £36.7 million project for 276 affordable homes managed by the council through Barking and Dagenham Reside saw first completions in December 2013. Former high and low-rise blocks have been demolished.
Lymington Fields Developer Lovell has signed contracts for a £63.3 million mixed tenure housing scheme on the 12.8-ha former site of Barking Technical College. There will be 362 new homes, with 213 for private sale, 104 for affordable rent and 45 offered for shared ownership through Home Group.
Find why Barking Barking and and Find out out why Dagenham is London’s London’s Dagenham is Newest Opportunity at at Newest Opportunity www.lbbd.gov.uk/londonsnewestopportunity www.lbbd.gov.uk/londonsnewestopportunity Jeremy JeremyGrint Grint Divisional DivisionalDirector Directorof ofRegeneration Regeneration and Economic Development and Economic Development Jeremy.grint@lbbd.gov.uk Jeremy.grint@lbbd.gov.uk 020 0208227 82272443 2443
David Harley Harley David Group Manager Manager Economic EconomicDevelopment Development Group and Sustainable Communities and Sustainable Communities David.harley@lbbd.gov.uk David.harley@lbbd.gov.uk 020 8227 8227 5316 5316 020
Daniel DanielPope Pope Group Manager Group ManagerDevelopment Development Planning Planning Daniel.pope@lbbd.gov.uk Daniel.pope@lbbd.gov.uk 020 0208227 82273929 3929
Business Relationship RelationshipManagers Managers Business info@boldanddynamic.co.uk info@boldanddynamic.co.uk 8227 3319 3319 020 8227
www.boldanddynamic.co.uk www.boldanddynamic.co.uk
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Sitematch: prime sites A leisure-led, commercial opportunity in Barking will soon be brought to the market. Sitematch researcher Huub Nieuwstadt reports
In early 2014, the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham will seek to dispose of the Abbey Sports Centre site in Barking town centre, following completion of a new leisure centre on an adjacent site. The council will be inviting bids for a mixed-use, commercial leisure-led development. The site is 0.38 hectares and is located between the civic core that is focused around the Town Hall, Barking Learning Centre and the residential Gascoigne area, which is undergoing an extensive programme of estate regeneration. The site is in a prominent road frontage location, opposite Abbey Green and the Broadway, providing an opportunity for additional commercial leisure uses which would benefit from maximum visibility and association with the theatre, new
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leisure centre and spa, currently being built opposite. The new leisure centre will feature a 25-metre swimming pool, learner pool, 120-station gym, spa and three dance and workout studios. The site is also a short walk to the Icehouse Quarter (the emerging creative industries’ base) on Abbey Road and the new ASDA supermarket being built on London Road/North Street with the potential for 24-hour operation. The site is within a seven-minute walk to Barking Station with a range of rail (c2c and London Overground), London Underground (District, Circle and Hammersmith and City lines), and bus links to central London and parts of Essex. Off-street parking provision is available for customers with a
The 0.38-ha site is close to Barking’s award-winning civic core and the historic part of the town centre.
650-space, multi-storey car park, with 350 spaces being constructed in the new ASDA and a further 500 spaces at one of Barking town centre’s prime shopping destinations, Vicarage Field, which will support customer visits. David Harley, group manager for economic development at Barking and Dagenham Council, said: “Adjacent to a new £13 million leisure centre, this prominent site offers a superb opportunity for a commercial leisure-led, mixed-use development in Barking town centre, which has superb accessibility and a growing population.”
Innovative Property Solutions
It’s how we fit things together that makes us different At GVA we assist in the delivery of complicated mixed use schemes Our capabilities include:
• Land acquisitions
• Development consultancy
• Lettings
• OJEU procurement
• Disposals
• Viability assessments
• Investment sales
For advice on mixed use developments please contact Lakis Pavlou 020 7911 2153 lakis.pavlou@gva.co.uk Jonathan Bernstein 020 7911 2403 jonathan.bernstein@gva.co.uk
08449 02 03 04
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A NEW GENERATION OF REGENERATION
Long Harbour’s regeneration fund aims to invest alongside local authorities to build affordable homes and associated infrastructure. Our first transaction was at William Street Quarter and Thames View East where 477 units are being delivered on time and on budget in partnership with the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. We are immensely proud that this scheme has won the Partnership’s Bulletin Award for ‘Best Alternative Deal Structure’ and recognition from the Municipal Journal for ‘Innovation in Finance’
Long Harbour manages funds with a focus on long dated, fixed income returns. In the residential sector we focus on the following: - A social infrastructure fund, committed to financing local authority-led housing initiatives; - A Private Rented Sector fund, which has acquired over £50m of residential units during 2013; - A portfolio of nearly 60,000 UK residential freeholds, managed by HomeGround, a Long Harbour company.
For more information, please contact Oliver Nicoll on: +44 (0)207 723 8881 on@longharbour.co.uk www.longharbour.co.uk