Through the Gateway

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16 March 2007


By Ellis Woodman


Twelve years into the planning project that is the Thames Gateway, a new scheme in Barking offers an early indication of the change to come, says Ellis Woodman. Pictures by Morley von Sternberg

Twelve years have passed since the publication of the planning framework that set in motion the development of the Thames Gateway, but today it seems we are still stuck at the ideas stage. Last November Cabe released the optimistically titled New Things Happen — essentially its own vision statement for the area’s development. The fact that such a document could be published so far into a supposed process of transformation suggests how little physical progress has actually been made.
The development of former industrial sites has clearly been held back by the failure to provide an adequate transport infrastructure, but in a number of existing communities, change is at last afoot. Key among them is the town of Barking, which lies nine miles east of central London. Here, the ambition is that over the next 15-20 years 7,500 homes will be built in the town centre and a further 10,000 on the adjacent Barking Riverside site.
In 2002, the architects East and Sergison Bates were commissioned to draw up a town centre urban design framework as a means of communicating to the private sector the anticipated nature of the change. A number of developments are now being undertaken in response to that document. The most significant of these is the redevelopment of the area around the town hall which will incorporate a £27 million mixed-use scheme designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, and new public spaces by Muf. However, the first large project to be completed lies a 10-minute walk from here, on the far side of the road that circumscribes the town centre, the A124. Here a partnership of Jestico & Whiles and Peter Barber Architects has designed 165 homes for the East Thames Housing Association.
The pairing of the two architects has a history behind it. Twenty years ago, Peter Barber spent his year out at Jestico & Whiles and over the past decade his practice has undertaken a number of collaborations with his former employer. The most significant of these was a 2001 scheme for 600 units at Haggerstand and Kingsland in east London. While it was never realised, for Barber in particular it proved something of an Ur project, articulating an urban model that he has pursued in subsequent work. This body of research proved invaluable in the development of the Barking scheme, particularly as a limited funding opportunity imposed an extremely demanding schedule. Having won the commission in competitive interview, the architects were given just four weeks to submit a full planning application.

Fonte: BDonline