Once again London is being riddled with holes by its next mega construction project: the Crossrail east-west regional express railway is scheduled to go into service in 2018. The multi-billion project is currently Europe’s largest infrastructure project, and investors are anticipating large numbers of new commuters along the route. Design for London has been working for many years to ensure that the benefits of transport investment are spread to the wider area as well as to local communities. A tough debate is underway to determine how the increasingly scarce funds are to be used in future.

London’s population continues to grow rapidly – despite the uncertain economic outlook and an absurdly inflated real estate market. Approximately 30,000 new dwelling units per year will be needed over the next few years. In order to keep this growth within urban boundaries, maintain the green belt and parks, and prevent gridlock, the city is concentrating on increasing densities at important public transport nodes. Significant improvements in the infrastructure are to address the situation of pedestrians vis-à-vis motorists and disadvantaged neighbourhoods are to be upgraded in the long term. Great hopes have been placed in what is currently Europe’s largest infrastructure project, the Crossrail regional express line, which from 2018 onwards will improve links between west and east London, supplementing obsolete commuter trains. It is anticipated that this megaproject – estimated at £16 billion – will act as a catalyst for numerous private investments along the new railway link – as was the case in the 1990s when the Jubilee line was extended from Westminster via the south bank of the Thames and Canary Wharf to Stratford. Crossrail could, however, prove to be a blessing and a curse for hitherto isolated, socially disadvantaged areas on the fringe of the city. Though these communities may benefit from the influx of more affluent groups newly attracted to the area, they are at risk of being inundated by high-density investor architecture, and more importantly, of being displaced from the area altogether.

Learning by doing – two places leading the way

The Dalston (Hackney) and Woolwich areas are emerging as prime examples of how local residents can benefit best from transport infrastructure-led renewal projects. In both areas the investment triggered by the construction of a new station was supplemented by public funding to upgrade the surrounding neighbourhood. “Making Space in Dalston” (Bauwelt 36.10) is a pioneer project that has set a new standard in public participation in London. Dalston Junction Station, including a complex with residential units at market rates on the upper floors, was opened in 2010. Parts of the historic centre and a theatre had to be demolished for the project. This top down strategic approach to change was met by vehement protests from local residents, culminating in a forced evacuation of the theatre. The resistance was eventually at least partly overcome by a small-scale pro-active strategy tailored to the needs of the neighbourhood. In cooperation with J+L Gibbons and muf (page 34), the local council and Design for London developed 76 small-scale projects around the new station, funded to the extent of £1 million in the first phase. Mobile playground equipment, signs and awnings for the shops, planting of roadside margins, communal gardens – it all sounds unspectacular, but the combined effort resulted in a perceptible improvement of the public realm in Dalston – in which the entire population actively participated.

In Woolwich, the development process was directed at a far earlier stage. It became clear that the neighbourhood would experience drastic change due to the linking of the Docklands Light Railway (2009) with the anticipated Crossrail (2018), and the arrival of 6,000 new residential, office and retail units. As a response the borough, helped by Design for London, initially recruited the services of Sergison Bates and East Architects (page 38) to create a masterplan that would absorb the pressure for renewal on the area from the outset. Step by step over the last decade more than £10 million of investment, has been attracted by the combination of local need, and new transport and economic growth capacity, which has been used to improve bus routes, key pedestrian links and to upgrade the public realm. For this purpose Witherford Watson Mann, who have led the public realm design from the start, proposed a range of simple, sturdy materials such as granite, which matched the raw charm of the former industrial area. In both Dalston and Woolwich the positive changes can hardly be overlooked. In 2009 Dalston was even chosen as the “coolest place in England” by the Italian Vogue.

The Outer London Fund

The Outer London Fund, was established in 2011 by the Mayor of London for areas that do not benefit from major projects such as Crossrail or the Olympic Games. It totals £50 million and money is allocated in an open bidding process in which the outer boroughs submit proposals. Funding to date has included festivals, shopfront improvements and the decluttering of footways. Support is not only in the form of cash, but also advice in areas such as land acquisition or running a business. Within a space of only two months no less than 25 businesses in Willesden Green, near Wembley in the west of the Borough of Brent, were matched with 25 designers to transform the shop windows of the local high street into a huge Advent calendar, curated by borough officers with the help of the Architecture Foundation. In Waltham Forest, to the north of the Olympic Park, 21 business and organisations were invited to occupy the vacant spaces of the Wood Street indoor market, injecting new life into the struggling facility. The high street also received new lighting, signage and planting .
As in Waltham Forest, the majority of the projects are focused on vibrant yet struggling local high streets. These are often the main link between new or revamped Crossrail stations and existing local centres, and conforms to the Mayor’s ambition of pooling funds to strengthen these linear, mixed-use centres (pages 18/19). According to estimates 700 new jobs will be generated, 300 shopfronts improved and dozens of empty spaces creatively used with the aid of the Outer London Fund. Added to those of other programmes, the total regeneration effort amounts to £221 million, which will be allocated over the next two years in 70 localities across London.

Good to grow, ready to go

Alone, the construction of one of the eight new stations for Crossrail will cost a lot more than the entire Outer London Fund. This clearly demonstrates the volume of financial resources tied up in these infrastructure projects, and how carefully the comparatively limited regeneration funds must be allocated. As an aid to decision-making, Design for London has prepared a toolbox that, for the first time in the city’s history, compares the potential of all its different neighbourhoods on a level playing field. Initially pioneered along the Crossrail corridor, the analysis now comprises key data for 550 areas, taking into account a range of different factors such as access to public transport and urban infrastructure (see above). This data can be instantly retrieved and reconciled with other data such as average property prices, commercial rents or social structure of an area. This method of analysis allows public sector stakeholders to make informed investment decisions: localities must be ‘good to grow’ (have an interested market), and must be ‘ready to go’ (have public and private partners prepared to spawn and finance development).
Though London has learnt to skilfully manage major infrastructure projects, whether road or rail, the potential for accompanying development to benefit a much larger area has yet to be fully harnessed. This has worked well in Dalston and is gradually becoming commonplace throughout Mayoral funded initiatives. Infrastructural interventions have an impact far greater than their actual physical manifestation, so facilitating a positive meeting of local and strategic partners to steer that change is critical. Combined with a more unified design review process, this could vastly improve the chances that these investments have a high pay-off for the community. Within the context of Crossrail, a complementary approach could combine strategic project prioritisation with the delivery of smaller scale interventions, fully exploiting scarce resources to stimulate growth while engaging local hearts and minds. This is an approach that has the potential to be carried locally, driven by a collaborative effort between local authorities, residents, traders, developers and many others. 

Adresse Crossrail 25 Canada Sq, London E14 5LQ, Vereinigtes Königreich

---

aus Bauwelt 24.2012
Artikel als pdf