Woolwich

New housing and new regional transport are not enough on their own to address the challenges of London’s growth. Public space is critical to connect them with each other, to link regional and local transport, and to integrate new and existing communities: the common ground of pavements, markets and parks. With the new DLR station and the redevelopment of the old Woolwich Arsenal site, LB Greenwich and Transport for London recognised this, and commissioned us to prepare a strategy for three linked spaces at the heart of the town.

We shrank the footprint taken by the bus station by dispersing the bus stops along existing roads, enabling the creation of a generous public garden in General Gordon Square. We built a wide raised crossing over the dual carriageway to the new housing development in the old munitions works, and tempered the roadway with new tree planting. By clearing street clutter, we made a spacious pavement between the covered market and the bus stops, paving it in granite setts and fine precast concrete. Marking out the line of the old Arsenal wall, we connected the historic Beresford Gate back into the public space of Woolwich, binding the borough’s past to its future.