AJ Climate Champions podcast: Thamesmead Waterfront and Home of 2030

First up is the Thamesmead Waterfront, a 100ha riverfront site in Greenwich to be developed in a joint venture between Lendlease and Peabody, the site’s owner. To hear about the winning scheme, we speak to Phil Askew, director of landscape and placemaking at Peabody, and Selina Mason, director of masterplanning at Lendlease. Now leading on the Thamesmead Waterfront masterplan, both were key individuals behind the Olympic Park.

The Home of 2030 competition called for innovative home designs that are ‘green, age-friendly and healthy’. We speak to Sarah Jones-Morris, director of Bristol-based Landsmith Associates and the landscape architect behind Igloo Regeneration’s winning proposal, about how green and blue infrastructure permeate the scheme. The winning projects are intended to be built in Sunderland as part of the Future Living Expo in 2023.

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Show notes: resources mentioned in this episode

About Thamesmead Waterfront

Winner: Prior + Partners with Arup, and West 8; The Place Bureau; Alison Brooks Architects; Turner Works; Marc Koehler Architects; JA Projects; Schulze+Grassov; Soundings; Sage Culture; WorkWild; and London Wildlife Trust

Thamesmead Waterfront winning team: Prior + Partners with Arup, and West 8; The Place Bureau; Alison Brooks Architects; Turner Works; Marc Koehler Architects; JA Projects; Schulze+Grassov; Soundings; Sage Culture; WorkWild; and London Wildlife Trust

A Prior and Partners-led team was announced winner of the £8 billion Thamesmead Waterfront competition in April. The Peabody-owned site features more than a mile of undeveloped Thames River frontage, five lakes and 30,000 trees. The proposal is to deliver more than 11,000 homes as well as new commercial and leisure facilities to complement the existing community of 45,000 people. Competition-entry concept images can be viewed here and a flyover of the site here.

About Home of 2030

Home of 2030 winning team: Igloo Regeneration with Useful Projects, Expedition Engineers and Mawson Kerr Architects [+Home concept]: Proposals for community-led self-build homes that people can design themselves. and that would recyclable at the end of their use.

The Home of 2030 competition sought innovative proposals for low-impact, environmental housing where people could age independently in a supportive community. The Igloo Regeneration-led team, one of two joint winners, included Newcastle architects MawsonKerr, along with Landsmith Associates, Useful Simple Projects and Expedition Engineering. The competition was led by the RIBA on behalf of the BRE, MOBIE and the Design Council,

Landscape architect Sarah Jones-Morris reflects on how green and blue infrastructure drove the scheme, the important role of communal gardens and the highly collaborative design process facilitated by lockdown. She also explains how she used the Building with Nature certification to prioritise wellbeing, water and wildlife in the proposal.

Totness Green Infrastructure Strategy

Bristol Urban Pollinators Project

UK Forest Genetic Resources Strategy Kew Gardens

Credits

Climate Champions is produced in association with ACAN, the Architects’ Climate Action Network
Podcast produced and edited by Concept Culture
Music: Edmilson do Pífano, Forró de dois Amigos. Interpretation: Felipe Tanaka e banda Balaio de Baião