London Borough of Barking & Dagenham led a design competition to find a team to provide a visionary new masterplan for the regeneration of the eastern side of the Gascoigne Estate. We were approached by East Thames Housing Group to develop proposals with Allies + Morrison as masterplanners. We were successful in our collaborative bid and set to work to together transform this run-down estate into a more welcoming, well-designed neighbourhood.
The starting point was to reintroduce a more traditional street pattern that provides better links to Barking Town Centre. A number of 1960s tower blocks dominated the streetscape, so we created six smaller buildings within a grid of five new streets. A large park sits in the centre of the estate, providing open communal amenity with paths through to the adjacent primary school and housing beyond. We have taken an important aspect of the area’s history as the driving concept behind all of the design throughout. Because the site was formerly home to a jute spinning mill in the Victorian era, we used 'weaving' to define the character of distinct neighbourhoods across the development.
For more details, read our Project Story.
Creating intimate communities on a grand scale in LB Barking & Dagenham.