Huge New London Canalside Scheme From ISIS

Huge New London Canalside Scheme From ISIS

Published on 01-03-2011 by Skyscrapernews.com
ISIS Waterside, Tovatt Architects and URBED are working on a massive new masterplan in Hounslow, West London, that will potentially see up to 77,557 square metres of mixed-use space delivered replacing a brownfield site.

Located off Commerce Road, Brentford Lock West seeks to redefine the area as a waterside town rather than a satellite one that is centered around the Great West Road and the motorcar. Past emphasis has been on making Brentford, which is known sometimes as "the Golden Mile", an employment centre with sprawling suburbs around it and little sense of definition in terms of the idea of neighbourhood due to the focused lack of communities. It perhaps bears a great similarity to places like Croydon.

The new development framework draws on the existing canal in the area as the centerpiece of the proposal, and seeks to create three new north/south routes through the site that will be lined with a variety of housing, 520 units, from apartments to family-friendly townhouses that are essentially set in four major city blocks.

Predominantly four or five floors in height, it is only on the Great West Road that the buildings become taller, partly to act as a shield for the site from the passing traffic, and partly because the urban fabric along that artery is already partially high-rise in nature. Even here however the tallest building will only range from 7 to 10 storeys as to not dominate the immediate residential neighbourhood. This building will likely be designed by Bauman Lyons with pitched roofs like boat sheds.

On the north-western corner of the site will be a business hub aimed at small companies, particularly those in new media and IT, or those looking for flexible office space to help compliment the major employers that operate nearby. In total it will have 7,000 square metres of space grouped around a new public square, the emphasis of which is a real public space rather than a semi private one that is usually so popular with developers.

The logic behind this is that semi-private spaces are more naturally intimidating and unwelcoming to passersby, so help reduce the permeability of the site, which is the last thing ISIS Waterside is after here, as well as a formula that has served them successfully for many years in Manchester.
The nature of this will be further enhanced by a new footbridge to run over the canal and link it to the other side, plus a new building for the local Canoe Club to help bring what is flowing under it to life.

Part of the site, the towpath that runs alongside the canal already gets a significant footfall despite being neglected. The developer seeks to expand the canal path by setting the buildings 6.5 metres back from the boundary of the site to create a 10 metre wide route. By removing the retaining wall of the canal this portion of the plot can be terraced as it steps down, with an attractive, and presumably lucrative new environment also created for the proposed waterfront housing at the same time.

Although the plan may seem large in scale, ISIS has a good reputation with successfully delivering such schemes having recently completed Granary Wharf in Leeds and Islington Wharf in Manchester. Chicago Web Design
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