海角视频

Barts Square

London, UK

This piece of prime City of London land, previously owned by the neighbouring St Bartholomew鈥檚 Hospital, was purchased by Helical plc more than a decade ago with a long-term vision for creating a new, vibrant mixed-use site.

The site, which previously housed a range of ancillary hospital buildings and nurses鈥� accommodation, had for a long time been an underutilised backwater sandwiched between Smithfield Market, St Bartholomew’s Hospital and St Bartholomew the Great church. The area was defined by the existing street grid and dominated by on street parking.

The developer鈥檚 vision was to transform this area into a new mixed-use district, with offices, apartments, and retail set around a new pedestrianised public square.

The Barts Square development has regenerated a 3.2-acre site immediately adjacent to St Bartholomew鈥檚 Hospital into a vibrant mixed-use scheme.

The creation of valuable new public realm was a critical element in building a new community in this corner of the City of London.

海角视频 was commissioned to advise on infrastructure, transport and mobility, waste and inclusive design.

Our infrastructure team developed an holistic drainage strategy for the site and built a 3D digital model of the utilities across the whole plot to ensure clashes could be avoided.

Challenge

Unlocking the existing street grid and the area’s reliance on on-street parking was key to delivering the new public square – a unifying area of public space that was vital to the place making strategy.

Proposals for the 3.2 acre site have delivered 21,000m虏 of office, 2,500m虏 of retail, 236 residential units and significant improvements to the public realm. 海角视频 was commissioned to advise on infrastructure, transport and mobility, waste and inclusive design 鈥� all key elements to ensuring the development successfully made it through the planning process to fruition.

The scheme is focussed around a large central square 鈥� a unifying area of public space that was key to the place-making strategy behind the largest regeneration project in the City of London for almost 20 years.

Our transport team produced the transport assessment for the Planning Application and was involved in a series of public consultation events.

Working with the City of London Highways Department our highways team developed a highways scheme delivered through Section 278 to alter and improve the existing road layout and Section 38 in order to create new roads. This resulted in the creation of the public square and improved access to existing and proposed buildings.

Solution

We produced a full Transport Assessment and contributed to the Environmental Impact Assessment 鈥� both key aspects to the success of the planning process.  

Our main focus, given the proximity of excellent public transport links, was the encouragement of sustainable travel, through provision of minimal car parking, extensive cycle parking and the much-enhanced public realm.

We supported the wider design team to negotiate the complex planning process, which included a considerable amount of public consultation. Key to the success of this was an analysis of current parking and the development of a predicted parking strategy for the site.

We analysed the potential impacts on all public transport modes in the area, taking into account the cumulative development of other schemes in the district, as well as assessing pedestrian comfort on the pavements in the historically narrow road grid.

The nearby Albion Way was significantly re-routed to make the site work effectively for traffic, and our experts provided specialist Section 278 advice on changes to highways to allow the creation of a public square, built around a group of mature plane trees. This has provided a clear pedestrian-friendly focal point for the new community.

Appropriate provision for delivery vehicles was an important design consideration and we also provided design advice on the waste strategy and access and facilities for the disabled.

The waste strategy had to balance both the demands of the local authority 鈥� which wanted easy-access waste collection facilities 鈥� together with achieving the client鈥檚 aspirations to maximise the commercial opportunities for the desirable ground floor spaces.

Our infrastructure team developed an holistic drainage strategy for the site and made sure that the existing utilities and other subterranean constraints were factored into the design process. We built a 3D digital model of the utilities across the whole site to ensure clashes could be avoided.

Value

海角视频鈥檚 multidisciplinary team played a number of critical roles in helping to drive this landmark scheme through the planning and design process.

Members of the City鈥檚 Planning Committee voted unanimously in November 2012 to grant planning permission and conservation area consent for the scheme. The regeneration reached its completion in 2020.