The Warren, Woolwich

Status: 2006
Location: London

Client: Berkeley Homes
Value: Confidential

 

This project was an invited competition aimed to re-address the landscape proposals already established in a masterplan for the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. Berkeley Homes, who were acting as clients, were appointed by the Greater London Authority and Greenwich Council to develop the site. They wished to enhance the public realm in an area that they viewed as the ‘front door’ to the development as a whole. Several phases of the development had already taken place and it was hoped that the successful competition entry would aim to be built in conjunction with adjacent developments on site.

The area has a rich history of over 400 years of military and industrial use and has left a legacy of historic buildings and spaces. The Warren site located within the historic walls acts as the threshold space to the rest of the Arsenal and the Thames from Woolwich town centre.

The site was segmented from the rest of the town centre via the Plumstead Road on its Southern boundary.

Our proposals aimed to re-establish a link to the rest of the town via the introduction of a series of urban rooms. The clients also requested that a temporary marketing pavilion was incorporated into the scheme, which will be used to sell future residential developments. Our proposal addressed issues of movement, activity and the connections between spaces and into the wider urban context. It focused on how people experience the spaces they occupy, in particular on how the design can support public life and activity.

The scheme was developed with Churchman Landscape Architects as a primary consultant.

 

Credits
Landscape Architects: Churchman Landscape Architects
Structural Engineer: Whitby Bird
Mechanical Engineer: Wallace Whittle