2009 WINNING SCHEMES > Project Winners

 

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This scheme offers surprising amenity for 212 new homes. But it is a product of its era, chronicling how development overcomes resistance with planning gain, coupled with a bespoke design which addresses a broad range of policy initiatives.

Salter Road loops round the Rotherhithe peninsula, passing the 1.9 ha site at the bottom of a steep embankment designed to keep people away from the highway. The Downtown response turns the separation of car and pedestrian on its head, creating a busy shared surface avenue splitting the site north to south down its middle. The gates to Redriff primary school form the northern boundary, so the public realm is designed to manage the traffic spikes of morning and afternoon school run, striking a balance for everyone, whether on bikes, roller blades, feet or 4x4s.

This is an early import of the Dutch ‘woonerf’ and is partly the work of consultant Graham Smith, who has long called for streets to underpin a ‘woonerful life’. Safety comes from bumper-bending obelisks and copses of trees in the road, deflecting vehicles first right, then left as they track gingerly through. A new play area just outside the school gates makes sure the kids don’t need to play in the line of traffic, creating a welcoming interface between parents and classroom.

Buildings are seven discrete blocks. The elipse overlooking the site access is a new health centre, which will contain a community facility to replace existing provision on site. Others contain a range of 45 m2 studios to 141 m2 5-bed houses. A terrace of courtyard houses to the south-west of the site forms a lower density fringe to existing development. The Jubilee line passes under the site so residential blocks rely on undercroft parking, provided at 64%. Compensating for the loss of activity at ground level has led to a highly articulated facade, where balconies and terraces form a busy layering of private outdoor spaces overlooking the street.

Two blocks overlooking a fringe of woodland to the west clearly detail this strategy of screening undercroft and creating active frontage. Flats have two accesses, one from an internal corridor served by a lift, but a second from the street in a double-height space which contains a study at ground floor. The roof of the same stair access becomes the terrace for an apartment over - all homes have access to at least one good-sized outdoor space.

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