INTRODUCTION

1.0 SITE LOCATION

The project is located on an important site close to Camden town centre. Camden Town lies between national and international transport connections at Euston and Kings Cross to the south and suburban north London. Kentish Town and Hampstead Heath are to the north and Regent’s Park to the west.

Grand Union House sits south of Kentish Town Bridge on Kentish Town Road. It is north of Britannia Junction in Camden Town’s central commercial zone.

1.1 SITE CONTEXT

Camden Town is a well-connected focal point in the public transport system, served by underground services, over ground rail and a range of bus services. The site is very close to Camden Town Underground station linking to both the Bank and Charing Cross branches of the Northern line.

Camden Town’s central business zone is characterised by strong retail activity on Camden High Street. The retail offer north of Britannia Junction caters overhwelmingly for visitors. The town centre does not have a single character but represents a varied built environment. Former industrial buildings, railway and canal sit between intact Victorian terraced streets and post-war public housing. Diversity is an integral part of the area’s character.

Camden Town is predomenantly under 4 storeys, predominanently Victorian and early 20th Century buildings. Larger offices and warehouse buildings have developed along the canal. As increased urban density has been pursued, buildings of greater height have appeared. New buildings at Hawley Wharf and Regent Canalside are up to nine floors high.

1.2 SITE PLAN

Grand Union House sits at on a one way intersection on Kentish Town Rd. The existing building is part of the 1980s Sainsbury’s supermarket development on Camden Road designed by Nicholas Grimshaw Architects. The one way loop leading to teh bridge controls traffic into sainsbury's back of house lot, and introduces a large underutilised void for pedestrians.

The existing Grand Union House was designed as two concrete structures linked by a bridge at first floor. A continuous metal cladding envelopes all.

A glazed lobby provides access from the underpass to the first floor bridge by stair and lift and subsequently to the units. The northern structure includes two business units accessed at first floor. These units are top lit by sky lights combined with narrow ribbon windows. There is a small retail unit at ground floor and car parking is located at street level accessed from the Sainsbury’s car park. The southern structure consists of a single business unit at first floor and a unit at ground level.

Untouched by the Grimshaw and largely disregarded by the development, St Michael’s Church is a Grade II* Listed building, designed by George Bodley in 1894 in an early English Gothic Revival style. The existing Grand Union House’s blank expanse of corrugated metal cladding on the south eastern façade sits precisely on the site boundary with St Michael’s. It turns its back to the Church.

1.3 SITE PHOTOGRAPHS

On my site visit I documented the journey from Camden Town tube station up Kentish Town Road to Grand Union House following pedestrian routes through the site. This allowed me to identify key sight-lines from street level.