Tall & Urban News

The FaulknerBrowns-led design team has revised its masterplan for the Bishopsgate Goodsyard complex in east London to include more housing.

Following pressure from the Greater London Authority, the joint-venture backers of the 4.2-hectare Shoreditch neighborhood complex – Hammerson and Ballymore – have increased the number of homes from 450 to 500 and significantly increased the size of the proposed public park.

The reworked plan is itself a radical redesign of a much taller plan, which was scrapped last year, featuring a cluster of six towers ranging in height up to 46 stories and including a pair of residential skyscrapers designed by PLP.

Revealed in November 2018, FaulknerBrowns’ proposal provided just 250 units, the scheme having been shrunk from the PLP plans with the tallest element trimmed to 29 stories.

The latest (stage 2) designs have been drawn up with BuckleyGrayYeoman, Eric Parry Architects, Spacehub and Chris Dyson Architects and were made public in early March 2019.

The joint venture said that it had now managed to hit the 500 homes target despite claiming in January that demands for more than 450 homes in the scheme would result in increased tower heights or a reduction in workspace.

According to Hammerson and Ballymore, the move followed the widespread public consultation and constructive conversations with the Greater London Authority, Hackney Council, and Tower Hamlets Council. At least 35 percent of the homes have been put aside as affordable units.

The all-new proposal also sees the removal of a building from the eastern end of the elevated park to create a larger continuous green space and increase the total public realm to over 1.25 hectares at park level.

John Mulryan, group managing director, Ballymore, admitted the Bishopsgate Goodsyard site came with “a great deal of challenges.”

He said, “thanks to a combination of over five different railway lines and tunnels passing through this site, as well as many heritage assets and structures to be brought back into use, there are a number of site constraints in play. The site offers significant development potential that is also capable of being sensitive to the townscape. As we move into the next stage of our consultation on the revised proposals, we hope it is evident that we have reflected on feedback received to date, and that our revised proposal delivers for London’s growth with sensitivity for the area and its community.”

The developers are planning on submitting a planning application to the GLA in late Spring, following a second public consultation on the updated proposals.

For more on this story visit The Architects Journal.