A Civic Heart for Thamesmead by Stefan Tebbenhoff

Southmere Lake, Thamesmead

Contents 4 Vision 6 Introduction 8 Historic overview 12 Context & analysis 17 Existing challenges 22 Objectives 24 Key move 1 26 Key move 2 28 Key move 3 30 Southmere Lake development 32 A new topography 36 Brutalism 2.0 38 Civic square 44 Construction 46 Planting

Central London

Canary Wharf

Thamesmead

Woolwich

(Adaptation of original artwork by Peabody Trust) 3

Vision Bringing together north and south Thamesmead with a thriving civic heart, creating an environment for people instead of cars.

Binsey Walk reimagined: Proposed retail facilities at the heart of Thamesmead

Introduction Conceived as a futuristic 21st Century town, when Thamesmead opened its doors to its first new residents in the late 1960s it was celebrated as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;a modern community where 60,000 people will live in environmental conditions unmatched by anything that has existed beforeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. What is certain is that this brutalist housing estate was the largest and most ambitious housing project by the Greater London Authority in its era of social housing provision and that its modern concrete aesthetic offered a progressive way forwards to solve the post-war housing crisis in London. In this respect it was not unlike other social housing estates of the period. What made Thamesmead different, however, was its unique Thames estuary location out to the east of London. Here, water voles and bulrushes thrive on marshland adjacent to concrete tower blocks.

Studio Group Model, scale 1:1250

Historic overview Although some human inhabitation can be traced back to the Bronze Age, what is now known as Thamesmead remained a sparsely inhabited marshland until the Greater London Authority (then named GLC) declared it desirable for Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expansion in the 1960s.

1170 - 1381 Medieval Period. The Augustinian order of monks build dykes and drain the marshes to create arable land

2200 - 750 BC Bronze Age. Remnants found of a Tumulus (burial ground) in Abbey Wood

1066 - 1154 Battle of Hastings. Richard de Lucy founds Lesnes Abbey, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book

1536 Dissolution of Monasteries by Henry VIII. Parts of Lesnes Abbey are destroyed. Hall Place, Bexley is among some of the buildings to have materials recycled from the Abbey

1850s Victorian Times. Development of Woolwich Arsenal. A small community begins to develop around the munitions factories and testing grounds

1953 North Sea Flood. Water levels rise to 10 feet above normal levels, flooding much of the Thames estuary. 4 People lose their lives and 350 are evacuated

1940 - 1945 The second World War sees the Arsenal expand to its height

1970s onwards Thamesmead features regularly as dystopian setting for movies and TV series, most notably A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Misfits (2009)

1960 A desperate need for post-war housing leads the GLC to start development of Erith & Plumstead Marshes. Thamesmead is conceived as a futuristic 21st century town. The first residents move in at the end of the 1960s.

Binsey Walk

View from Abbey Wood

Southmere Lake

Raised walkway, Southmere Lake

Lesnes Abbey

Erith Marshes

Abbey Wood

Maran Way

Wolvercote Road

Maran Way

Context & Analysis Demographics Thamesmead has a young population, with a high proportion of children and low proportion of elderly residents compared with London and England. The mean age is 31 - four years below the London mean. Ethnically Thamesmead is a diverse community, with 63% of residents of non-white British ethnicity. The Black African community has grown thirteen fold over the last decade. 4 out of 10 residents were born outside the UK â&#x20AC;&#x201C; three times the national average. Although known as a crime hotspot, crime rates in Thamesmead are relatively low in London terms. Vehicle crime, antisocial behaviour and burglary are below London levels. However, violent crime, drug crime, criminal damage and robbery are above London levels.

Age

Ethnicity

Crime (per 1000 residents)

118

99 0-15 28%

Working Age

65+

68%

Thamesmead

White British 37%

Asian 8% 22%

69%

White nonBritish Other 6% 8%

64%

17%

Thamesmead

19% England

London

Black 40%

England

London

+ 0.9 m

Context & Analysis Green and blue infrastructure

THAMESMEAD BY THE END OF THIS CENTURY _ 2100 PLAN

Thamesmead has more than twice the amount of green space per resident that othFOLLOWING RESEARCHES MADE BY er areas of London. Ecologies range from woodland surroundingRECENT the higher grounds of Waltham Abbey to marshland towards YEARS the river. SEES THE SEA LEVEL INCREASING Southmere Lake is perhaps the most visible manifestation of the need to drain the land, but in many ways the town turns its back on its most valuable watery assets. Many of the drainage ditches and canals which collect and channel the surface water + 0.9 m are now illegible.

THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY THE SCENARIO WE ARE ATTENDING IN THE FUTURE FROM 0.9 m UP TO THE WORST-CASE AROUND THE 4.2 m.

+ 2 m

NOW

Mappings of flood risk revealed the threat to this estuary setting where severe flooding could potentially leave the entire town under 4 metres of water, as indeed happened in 1953. Being located east to the Thames Barrier flood defences, Thamesmead remains vulnerable to future floods and the effects of global warming.

THAMESMEAD BY THE END OF THIS CENTURY _ 2100 PLAN FOLLOWING RECENT RESEARCHES MADE BY THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY THE SCENARIO WE ARE ATTENDING IN THE FUTURE YEARS SEES THE SEA LEVEL INCREASING FROM 0.9 m UP TO THE WORST-CASE AROUND THE 4.2 m. + 0.9 m

+ 2 m

+ 3 m

+ 2 m

+ 3 m

+ 2 m

+ 3 m

+ 4.2 m

Projected water levels at the end of this century, from best (left) to worst (right) case scenario (Adaptation of studio drawings by Caspar Gesher and Camilla Piccolo) + 4.2 m

+ 3 m

NOW

NOW +4

2100

Water

Silt

Marsh

Grassland

Playing field

Allotment

Trees/Woodland

The Southern Outfall Sewer (Ridgeway)

Existing Challenges Fragmentation Thamesmead is divided in half by a 5 meter high ridge which houses the Southern Outfall Sewer, a major sewer pipe built in Victorian times. It is covered by soil and locally known as The Ridgeway. Fenced off, it has only 4 access points for pedestrians and cyclists. As such it presents a significant physical obstacle to movement across the town from north to south.

Belvedere Rd Harrow Manorway

Sewell Rd

Nathan Way

Access points to the Ridgeway

Existing Challenges Infrastructure Designed at a time when the motor car was considered the way forwards, the massive 1960s road infrastructure - rationalised and forward-looking as it was â&#x20AC;&#x201C;is now underused and in itself an obstacle to pedestrian and cyclist movement, offering up a series of dubious dark undercroft spaces.

Existing Challenges Lack of facilities The lack of facilities has a negative impact on the sense of community. The town centre is out of position; located at the far north west and difficult to reach for people in the south. There is a large Sainsburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supermarket in south Thamesmead with an impersonal cafe. Between these two points, there are no retail or leisure facilities to speak of.

Town Centre

Southmere Lake

Sainsburyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Lack of community facilities, Southmere Lake

Objectives

Movement Creating a more friendly environment for cyclists and pedestrians. Movement has health benefits and literally brings life to the streets of Thamesmead.

Community Facilitating a sense of community by creating a place for people to meet and gather at the heart of Thamesmead

Defragmentation Stitching together north and south Thamesmead

Key Move 1

Current

Untangling knot of infrastructure at the heart of Thamesmead. All around the world motorways are being torn down in favour of new public spaces. In Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon Freeway has made way to a healthy river park for urban dwellers. The Madrid Rio project is another bold approach to reclaiming urban space from roads. Shared spaces are becoming an increasingly suitable alternative to roads in urban environments, as is indeed is the case at the Exhibition Road development in London. To bring Thamesmead’s over-engineered and under-used road infrastructure in line with the requirements of current day urban dwellers, I propose tunnelling part of Harrow Manorway and removing the Eastern Way altogether. This brings the edge of Southmere Lake into play as an urban environment for people instead of cars. Traffic flow is optimised through existing alternative routes, with the recommendation to change the main roads into shared spaces, easing the flow of traffic and improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists.

tern Eas

y Wa

Harrow Manorway

“If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places.” ARUP, SlimCity Knowledge Cards (2011)

Cheonggyecheon, Seoul

Madrid Rio

Exhibition Road, London

â&#x20AC;&#x201A;Proposed

Southmere Lake

Removing the Eastern Way and tunnelling part of Harrow Manorway brings the edge of Southmere Lake into play as civic heart for Thamesmead

Key Move 2 Developing the Ridgeway from obstacle to feature Rather than being an obstacle, the Southern Outfall Sewer (Ridgeway) has the potential to stitch together north and south Thamesmead through its biggest asset: the abundance of green spaces. From Plumstead to Crossness Pumping Station, the Ridgeway runs through Birchmere Park, Crossway Park and Southmere Park.

Crossness Pumping Station

Removing fencing, clearing overgrowth and upgrading pathways increases access and use, elevating the Ridgeway to a feature of the landscape, rather than a barrier to movement, with views across parks, marshes and urban environments. Where it runs through urban environments, inspiration can be taken from developments such as the New York High Line. Along the parks it can be kept open to blend in naturally with surrounding green spaces. Access across the entire length is improved with various steps and paths.

Crossway Park

Birchmere Park

Southmere Park Erith Marshes

Plumstead

Steps and paths, Payers Park Folkestone

New York High Line

Dyke footpath, Geldermalsen, Netherlands

Key Move 3 Introducing facilities at Southmere Lake At the heart of Thamesmead lies Southmere Lake. Due to its central location it is most suitable to for developments bringing together residents of north and south Thamesmead. It is a hugely underused asset, with interesting brutalist architecture on a spacious water edge. Introducing retail and leisure facilities in the disused ground floor garages breathes life into the community and delivers facilities that are now desperately lacking. At the water edge, cafés and restaurants provide a meeting place with views over the lake. Inspiration for retail developments in this brutalist environment could be taken from the Brunswick Centre, an estate built around the same time as Thamesmead. Southmere Lake

Waterside facilities, Chicago

Brutalist shopping street: Brunswick Centre London

Riverside cafés, Kingston upon Thames

Southmere Lake Development

A new topography Forming a land bridge between north and south Thamesmead The soil and rubble from removing the over-engineered Eastern Way and tunnelling Harrow Manorway is reused to create a new topography that widens the Ridgeway at the north west edge of Southmere Lake, forming a land bridge that facilitates people movement between north and south.

Urban space is reclaimed in the form of affordable housing at the north end and a cultural centre/town hall at the south end of this topography, creating a seamless connection at the heart of Thamesmead.

Brutalism 2.0 A cultural centre with attitude Building a new town hall/cultural centre breathes further life in the community. Residents can gather here and celebrate cultural activities and festivals. A cinema could also be housed in this complex - a facility residents were promised since the 1960s but sadly never came about. A bold design is suggested for the building to complement the 1960s brutalist architecture that defines much of Thamesmead. In this proposal, Rem Koolhaas’ design for the Casa da Musica in Porto is used as an example.

Thamesmead, 1960s

Casa da Musica, Porto 2005

Thamesmead, 1960s

Vision for a town hall/cultural centre

Civic square Marking the route from Binsey Walk, past the new town hall and up onto the Ridgeway is a new, terraced civic square with raised lawns and trees. The raised lawns (facing south-west) provide an informal space to meet and relax. As the location is quite exposed to the elements, trees as planted to mitigate the heat island effect and function to calm windy conditions from the lake.

Construction The hard surface of the square consists of grey clinker. This material blends in with surrounding concrete buildings and allows quick access to utilities without the need to cut and backfill concrete surfaces. T-shaped angle, support retaining walls are used to construct the raised lawns. Drainage is away from retaining walls, with the paving sloping down towards the lake at a 1 percent angle.

Raised lawn, Jubilee Gardens London

Paving pattern, Greenwich Peninsula London

Cement clinker

Planting Lawns are sown with wear tolerant grasses that are resilient and require little maintenance. Species-rich meadows cover the Ridgeway giving colour and structure. Chosen species are suitable for the diverse conditions across the site. Trees are selected for tolerance to urban environments. Planted in a pattern that appears random gives a natural look contrasting with the grey geometric concrete surfaces of the terraces and town hall.

Fraxinus excelsior L.

Acer campestre L.

Quercus robur L.

Ulmus columella

Tilia cordata

Management Plan Trees Stake trees for the first two years until roots provide adequate anchorage. Weed and mulch around the base each spring for the first two years. Water trees at the beginning of the growing season (April/May) and regularly throughout the summer. During drought, increase accordingly. Regularly check tree stems for damage. If pest/disease is suspected, remove and dispose of tree to avoid its spread. Prune up to 25% of each tree to create a diverse canopy structure and help area keep clear of overhanging branches. Prune in winter when dormant, except field maple which needs pruning in summer to reduce risk of disease and sap bleeding. Lawns Relaxed mowing (every 2-3 weeks) during the summer to allow the production of flower heads for bees. Meadows First year management Most of the sown meadow species are perennial and will be slow to germinate and grow and will not usually flower in the first growing season. There will often be a flush of annual weeds from the soil in the first growing season. This weed growth is easily controlled by topping or mowing. Management once established In the second and subsequent years change to traditional meadow management based around a main summer hay cut in combination with autumn and possibly spring mowing or grazing. Meadow grassland is not cut or grazed from spring through to late July/August to give the sown species an opportunity to flower. After flowering in July or August take a ‘hay cut’: cut back with a scythe, petrol strimmer or tractor mower to c 50mm. Leave the ‘hay’ to dry and shed seed for 1-7 days then remove from site.