Redevelopment will be largest in Peabody’s 158-year history

Five design teams have been shortlisted to masterplan a huge £8bn regeneration project in south-east London.

They include leading practices such as Alison Brooks, Mikhail Riches and Shard architect William Matthews as well as emerging names including Jas Bhalla Architects and Madeleine Kessler, co-curator of the British Pavilion at the delayed Venice Biennale.

The 250-acre scheme, known as Thamesmead Waterfront, is set to provide at least 11,500 new homes plus commercial and leisure space across more than a mile of undeveloped river frontage at the sprawling estate made famous by the film A Clockwork Orange.

Thamesmead 2

Source: Peabody

A competition winner for the site will be named in April

The shortlist (see below) includes five teams, with each made up of a number of firms.

Thamesmead Waterfront Joint Venture, a partnership between Peabody and Lendlease set up in October 2019 to spearhead the project, said the scheme would be an opportunity to create a “new and exceptional place for a post-pandemic future”.

It will be the largest project in Peabody’s 158-year history.

The JV called for “visionary and strategic masterplanners” to apply for the two-stage competition.

The competition, which is being run by Colander Associates, is expected to appoint a winner by April.

Peabody, which operates more than 66,000 homes across the capital and the south-east, took over the Thamesmead estate six years ago.

Built in the 1960s, the housing scheme is home to 45,000 people and was used as a setting for Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film of Anthony Burgess’s novel.

Lendlease beat Morgan Sindall to be named preferred bidder for the work in February last year, Peabody having begun its search for a development partner in October 2017.

Shortlist

  • Allies and Morrison with Jas Bhalla Architects; SLA; Ramboll; Montagu Evans; and Frances Holliss – This group of architects, urbanists and planners are based in London and work in cities around the world. They have a reputation for designing characterful and sustainable pieces of city and are known for their work in regeneration, housing and community.
  • Prior & Partners (with Arup; West 8; The Place Bureau; Alison Brooks Architects; Turner Works; Marc Koehler Architects; JA Projects; Schulze&Grassov; Soundings; and Sage Culture) - P&P propose a creative and innovative, multi-disciplinary masterplan design and engagement team, with the purpose of creating a meaningful and successful new place at Thamesmead Waterfront. The team brings a strong understanding of the social, civic and environmental responsibility that lies at the heart of this opportunity and a rigorous approach to design delivery.
  • Studio Egret West & Cobe (with Dark Matter Labs; Studio Weave; Freehaus Design; Yinka Ilori Studio; AKTII; Hilson Moran; and Biomatrix Water) – Lead Designers Studio Egret West and Copenhagen based Cobe have forged a 50/50 collaboration, bringing together two practices that equally value the symbiosis of architecture, urban design and landscape. SEW have led the design of large-scale transformative projects across the UK and Cobe are the visionary lead designers of Nordhavn, the largest metropolitan development in Northern Europe. 
  • Urban Orchestra led by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, Mikhail Riches, Haptic and Expedition with Create Culture; Gardiner and Theobald; Gibson Thornley; GS Solutions;  Innovation First; Kjellander Sjöberg; LOLA; Madeleine Kessler Architects;  Mary Duggan Architects; Nick Elias Studio; Nordic – Office of Architecture; William Matthews Architects and ZCD Architects - The Urban Orchestra team is made up of range of innovative design and placemaking specialists. This international team is strong on collaboration and sustainability, and would bring extensive expertise across the built environment sector in creating new places with a clear purpose to support local people and grow their potential.   
  • White Arkitekter (Publica; Tredje Natur; Central Saint Martins; Public Works; Bohn & Viljoen; Buro Happold; GL Hearn; and Aurora) - White Arkitekter is an interdisciplinary practice with the mission to enable sustainable life through the art of architecture. Since being founded in Sweden by Sidney White in 1951, the practice has grown to an international collective of almost 800 staff. Their London Studio was founded in 2015 and since that time has applied an interdisciplinary approach to sustainable urban masterplans, high-quality affordable housing, state-of-the-art hospitals and award-winning cultural buildings.

Source: Peabody