Sugar House Island Masterplan
Sugar House Island is in East London, approximately 1.5 km from the Stratford transport hub and directly south of the 2012 Olympic site. Planning consent was granted in 2012 for a comprehensive mixed-use redevelopment of the site to provide 1,200 residential units, 58,000 m2 of offices and workshops, a 350 bedroom hotel, bridges, and a riverside park.
Following extensive remediation and the enclosure of the island within a new river wall, the project is in construction.
The design concept uses a traditional approach to density and domestic scale, using the patterns of the site’s old yards and roads and older London itself, to introduce familiar forms, scale and spaces. These are found in the mews lanes, the garden courts, the streets and the accent towers as well as in the public spaces of Danes Yard, Chimney Walk and the gastronomy hub to the south. All these, together with the enclosing waters and west facing park, contribute to a new neighbourhood which has the character of a river island.
Judge Monica von Schmalensee, from the NLA panel, praised the integration of new buildings with old ones and the way it ‘takes back the street’ and encourages families to move into the area. This masterplan regenerates 10 hectares of brownfield land including two conservation areas into a thoughtfully-designed, well-connected new riverside. The masterplan is truly mixed use, balancing working, living and leisure activities to deliver a place which is characterful and interesting, as well as respectful of its history and responsive to its local area. The ambition is to create an inclusive, welcoming place which supports and embraces its wider neighbourhood, making it socially sustainable and commercially successful in the long term.
