city & landscape studies

8/2/2019 City & Landscape Studies

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Kieron PeatyU_15City & Landscape Studies


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City & Landscape Studies

Contents Page

Introduction 3Site Introduction 4

1.0 Urban Context

1.1 Historical Analysis1.1.01 Urban Morphology & Development* 61.1.02 ypology* 91.1.03 Key Buildings 11

1.2 Political Analysis1.2.01 Unitary Development Plan 141.2.02 Use Classes 151.2.03 Permitted Development 161.2.04 Conservation Areas 17

1.3 Economic & Social Analysis1.3.01 Main Economic Drivers 191.3.02 Social/Private Developments 201.3.03 Key Social/Community Temes 21

2.0 Project Context

2.1 Site Context2.1.01 Location 232.1.02 Site Proling 252.1.03 Site Orientation 282.1.04 rac/Access 292.1.05 Adjoining buildings 30

* Undertaken as part o a group


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I n t r o d u c t i o n

Tis report provides an outline o the urban and sitecontext or a youth education acility or Spitalelds andBanglatown, a ward located in the London Borough oower Hamlets.

Te site is 21-25 Osborn Street, at the southern tip o BrickLane. It has been earmarked by ower Hamlets Council asa site t or development aer lying abandoned or nearlya decade.

Te initial part o this report provides a holistic overviewo the wider urban context o Spitalelds and Banglatownand the subsequent role ower Hamlets Councilexpect the area to assume as part o Londons uturedevelopment. Te latter part provides specic site contextand examinations o actors inorming design decisionstaken or the proposal, urther inormation o which canbe ound in the Architectural Proessional Studies andDesign & Detail reports.


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S i t e I n t r o d u c t i o n


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Contents Page


1.0 Urban Context



1.3 Economic & Social Analysis

1.3.01 Main Economic Drivers 191.3.02 Social/Private Developments 201.3.03 Key Social/Community Temes 21

2.0 Project Context




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Spitalelds has had a long association with immigration dating backto 1685. Te Revocation o the Edict o Nantes led to an inux oFrench Protestant (Huguenots) reugees establishing themselves in thearea. Given the location outside o the bounds o the City o Londonthe Huguenots were able to avoid the restrictive legislation laid out bythe City Guilds. By the end o 1687 a report ound there to be 13,050French reugees settled within London generally, but primarily aroundSpitalelds.

As immigration in the area continued and increased it sparkedthe beginning o Spitalelds association with the textiles industry,particularly silk. During the late 17 th and 18th centuries estates o terracedhousing were built in the area to accommodate master weavers who werecontrolling the silk industry. Development o the area was not limited tohousing, indeed the Huguenots also built ten chapels in the area. Concernregarding the dissenting Huguenots grew and in turn led to Christ

Church being built on the corner o Fournier Street and CommercialStreet in a bid to kerb Protestantism.During the 1840s a large number o Irish ound themselves out o workdue to the Potato Famine. Tis was largely due to the Irish economy beingcentred on agriculture. Irish workers ound themselves unemployed andperhaps rather inevitably they ound their way to Spitalelds where thenearby docks were creating an increasing amount o construction work.

In 1860 cheaper silk began to be imported into England ollowing the

signing o a treaty with France. Tis meant that the silk industry withinSpitalelds became less prosperous and so the Huguenots began to moveaway rom the area to be replaced by new trades such as urniture making,boot making and tailoring. Te large windowed Huguenot houses wereconsidered extremely suitable or the tailoring industry. Tus a newwave o immigrants moved into the area, the Jewish, drawn by the aorementioned textile industry.

For a great while Spitalelds was synonymous with deprivation. Te areasuered rom an outbreak o Cholera ollowing the demise o merchanthousing as it became multi-occupancy slums. On 18 th February 1832 TePoor Mans Guardian wrote o the area; Te low houses are all huddledtogether in close and dark lanes and alleys, presenting at rst sight anappearance o non-habitation, so dilapidated are the doors and windows:-in every room o the houses, whole amilies, parents, children and aged

grandathers swarm together.

owards the end o the 20 th Century the Jewish were displaced as aninux o Bangladeshi immigrants arrived. Much the same as the Jewishimmigrants during the late 19th Century, the Bangladeshi people weredrawn to the area by the textiles industry. Nowadays, many o theBangladeshi people have set up their own businesses. Predominantlythese businesses are restaurants located on Brick Lane, which has led toBrick Lane becoming renowned as the curry capital o London.

1.1.01 Urban Morphology & Development

1.1.01 U r b a n M o r p h o l o g y


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Arguably the major actor threatening Whitechapel HighStreet is the encroachment o the City o London. Te Cityis expanding. An identity that has been cultivated overmany centuries is under threat o disappearing owed toSpitalelds and Banglatowns existence in the City ringe.

ower Hamlets Council has identied City growth as anopportunity or new development. Tus, one could drawthe conclusion that the high street no longer providesservices to the local community but moreover providesland to acilitate the expansion o the City.



commercial change: evolution has been a constant inSpitalelds history. Residents have never stood still.With each new wave o immigration came new skills ormaterials shaping the commercial composition o thearea. Change gave Spitalelds an ability to regenerate andgrow. Yet today the area aces change like none seen beore.

Capitalism has created a seismic shi in society on a scalelarger than anything experienced during the emergenceo cheap French silks or handmade ootwear. WhitechapelHigh Street reects the change o social agenda. Tediagrams are a demonstration o the decline o servicesoered on Whitechapel High Street since 1841. Te abrico a once thriving shopping hub has disintegrated like somany other high streets. Te demise owes to many actors,inclusive o but not limited to the emergence o onlineshopping, increasing numbers o out-o-town shoppingcentres and the growth o supermarkets.


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physical change: the decline o services provided inSpitalelds and Banglatown has led to an increase inbuilding stock rejuvenation. Te diagrams demonstratethe extent o change upon Whitechapel High Streetsince the beginning o 1841. A high street once noted orpossessing long, narrow plots dened by narrow shoprontages occupied by butchers, bakers and green grocershas transormed. Large mixed use developments havereplaced those that were demolished.

Tis cycle o evolution leaves one wondering whether

the character o an area can ever be maintained i it iscontinually carved up to accommodate new incisions.O course conservation areas go some way to protectingthe aesthetics o an area but with each new building thegenetics o a region are irrevocably altered.Whitechapel High Street is an indictment o the disparitycreated by new growth as remaining untouched buildingssit, isolated, as ragments o the past against a backdrop onew development.




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1.1.02 U r b a n y p o l o g y

1.1.02 Urban ypology

Local economy:there are now roughly 1.4 jobs per residento working age, many o which require a skilled workorce.Employment is dominated by large rms and high-skilled

jobs(ower Hamlets Enterprise Strategy April 2011 p19).

Given the economic growth over the previously mentioned30 year period, employment has also developed to the extentthat ower Hamlets reects economic characteristics oother inner city London boroughs. However these acts

do not paint a clear picture o the truth.

Levels o deprivation are high in ower Hamlets becausethe job opportunities that exist do not cater or the skillsets provided by the residents. Tus 85% o residentstravel to places o employment located outside o theborough, whilst the jobs on oer in ower Hamlets aretaken by those known as in-commuters. Tis imbalancehas social, economic and environmental implications.

As such there is a need to either provide the tools orresidents to develop their skils so that they may takepositions within the nancial and business services orimprove the perormance o non-nancial service sectorsand enhancing opportunities(April 2011, p19)


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101.1.02 Urban ypology

1.1.02 U r b a n y p o l o g y

Residential: Housing in Spitalelds and Banglatownis predominantly comprised o social sector tenancies(either Local Authority, LA or Registered Social Landlord,RSL). Te levels o this type o accommodation exceed theaverage percentage across both London and England.

Overcrowding is also a big problem in the area. Te type ohousing are oen ats or small houses designed or smallamilies at best. However with the nature o Bangladeshi

amilies to oen accommodate 3 or 4 generations oamily memebrs under the same roo these small homesare inadequate.


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111.1.03 Key Buildings

1.1.03 K e y B u i l d i n g s

Whitechapel Gallery is located on Whitechapel HighStreet. Te Gallery was ounded in 1901 by Liberal MP JPassmore as one o the rst publicly unded galleries ortemporary exhibitions in London. Troughtout the historyo the gallery it has maintained a strong connection to thecommunity by running education and outreach projectsor residents suering rom deprivation.

In 2005 the neighbouring Whitechapel Library closedto acilitate the expansion o the gallery. Between 2007

and 2009 the gallery itsel also closed to allow or theexpansion works to take place beore it was re-opened inApril 2009.

Te library had existed there or 113 years until 2005aer being ounded by in 1892 (again by Passmore). Telibrary had a reputation as the university or the ghettoyetas o 2005 it became known as the IDEA Store aer beingmoved to a purpose built acility at 321 WhitechapelRoad. Te Whitechapel IDEA Store is one o ve inower Hamlets with others located in Bow, Chrisp Street,Watney Market and Canary Whar. Te Canary Wharbranch was partially unded by Barclays plc.


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121.1.03 Key Buildings

Central House, home to the Sir John Cass Departmento Art, Media and Design (London MetropolitanUniversity) located on the corner o Commercial Roadand Whitechapel High Street. Te department is locatedhere or the simple reason that the area has becomerenowned or being a vibrant community, home to aplethora o galleries, designers, artists, museums andcultural industries.

London Metropolitan University website describes the

Cass as being situated on the East London City ringe, avibrant area recognised as a centre o excellence or bothart and design. Tis unique environment o commerce, art

galleries and design workshops exposes our students to thehighest levels o proessional practice.

Building unctions reect the resources o an area, aschool or art and design benets rom existing within avibrant, culturally rich environment.

Te project site is located between the City o Londonand Canary Whar, thus an education acility aimed attraining local youths in management reects employmentopportunities provided by local resources.

1.1.03 K e y B u i l d i n g s


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Contents Page


1.0 Urban Context





2.0 Project Context




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1.4: Te unction o the UDP is to:

- set out a co-ordinated ramework or the developmentand use o land in the Borough or the next 10 years;

- set out the Councils detailed policies or the control odevelopment in the Borough;

- make proposals or the development and use o landand to allocate land or specic purposes.

3.7: Londons labour orce is projected to increase to slightly over3.6 million by the year 2000, a rise o 170,000 . . . Demographictrends as a whole in London indicate a shortage o 16-19 yearolds in the early 1990s. In contrast to the rest o London, owerHamlets has a growing population, with population orecastsindicating a continued growth in the number o school 16-19 yearolds. Tus, ower Hamlets is well placed to play an increasinglyimportant role in meeting Londons labour demands.

6.1: ower Hamlets occupies a key position within London,with the city to the west and the opportunities oered by an areadened as the East Tames corridor (stretching rom owerBridge on both sides o the Tames into Essex and Kent), to theeast. Te development o Docklands in particular has placedower Hamlets at the centre o Londons uture, providing newhomes and entertainment but perhaps most dramatically o all,a new business centre or the capital.

6.4: In recent years there has been a massive amount o investmentin commercial development in the borough, targeted at cityunctions, with more planned in the uture. Tis is matched byan equally signicant investment programme in road and rail

inrastructure to service this growth.Tese processes will link

the borough physically and unctionally to the city and the westend. With these changes the character o parts o the borough

will change to resemble more closely that o the central area. Teplan has been ormulated to recognise the growing importanceo ower Hamlets to the national and international unctions othe capital.

6.4: ower Hamlets is at the centre o Londons transportimprovements.

6.7: One o the means o ensuring that the amenity o residentsand the environment are protected is to ensure that economicgrowth takes place in a balanced way.

7.2:Te issue o equality o opportunity or all is central to theower Hamlets UDP. In a borough with such a multi-racial andmulticultural population as ower Hamlets, it is important toensure that all members o our communities are treated airlyand equally.

7.5: Te unemployment rate in ower Hamlets is currentlythe second highest in London and is one o the highest in thecountry. It is thereore important to ensure that existing jobsare protected whenever possible. New jobs also need to becreated. Depending on the nature o the new jobs coming intothe Borough, training initiatives will be encouraged so that localpeople can have access to new opportunities. Te Council willcontinue to promote the Borough as an investment opportunityon a local, Regional and European scale in order to ensure thatnew jobs are created locally or local people.

tower hamlets udp

Te UDP is an extremely dense document and perhaps this isthe problem. Tere are a number o supporting policies and a

great deal documentation providing more exact inormation tosupport what could be described as generalisations within theUDP itsel, yet it would be incorrect to suggest that the UDPails to address or acknowledge existing issues in ower Hamletsspecically.

Te area suers rom high levels o deprivation, however it hassuch potential as a centre or thriving business and economythat the UDP can at times apper to be marketing literature orpotential investors. Understandably i the area is to stimulategrowth then it needs to attract unding and to been seen as agood place to locate businesses to. Yet the problem is that thedocument does not really seem to see growth or the benet othe economy, growth or the benet o culture or growth or thebenet o local residents as one harmonious entity.

Selling land to the City may bring money to the area but howdoes it solve social segregation. City workers do not live inower Hamlets thus the money that they bring and the economythat they work in do not benet small local businessess andsubsequently do not benet residents. Growth must be organicand provide or all, which is where the UDP is correct in itscontent. Where it seems to all down is in the assumptions thatlocal residents, culture and economy can only unction in onearea rather than one sel-sustaining community.

1.2.01 Unitary Development Plan (UDP)

1.2.01 U n i t a r y D e v e l o p m e n t P l a n (UDP)


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Area Zoning: Te map denotes the extent o an area knownas the Central Area Zone. Tis is an area dened in owerHamlets UDP as one that the Council have been advisedto develop. As such policies seek to sustain a mixtureo metropolitan level activities as well as vital but morevulnerable uses which lend it [the area] unique character(tower hamlets UDP, p75).

Te council will encourage Central London Core Activities,

dened as those o regional, national or internationalimportance, to consolidate in the Central Area Zones . . .By directing Central London Core Activities to these areas,occupiers will be able to take advantage o the existingrange o activities and support services, including transportinrastructure (tower hamlets UDP, p79). Clearly itmakes sense or the council to encourage developmentin this area. It is a bridge between the afuent City andan area o deprivation. Te area possesses land primedor development. Yet, the question is; how much o theproposed development o the area will be socially sensitiveenough to benet residents?

Tose living in the area would surely dene employmentopportunities and quality housing as important.

However, ower Hamlets Council seemingly dene large,internationally recognised companies occupying ocespace within the Central Area Zone as important. Howmany o the residents in the area immediately adjacentto the Central Area Zone would gain work rom suchcompanies.

Spitalelds and Banglatown is an area with high levels odeprivation, yet the City o London provides employmentand signicant remuneration or so many. o live so closeto an area o such afuence should benet residents in theorm o meaningul employment. Te Central Area Zoneshould be a progressive space that removes the barriers oclassist society by providing opportunities or everyone.

However, policy seemingly posses an undertone designedto maintain the inequalities that exist between those whooccupy the City and those who occupy Spitalelds andBanglatown.

1.2.02 Use Classes

1.2.02 U s e C l a s s e s


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Key issues: Te eagerness with which ower HamletsCouncil aims to encourage regeneration, particularlywithin the City Fringe has been dened as 10 key issues: 1 - strong & diverse business growth

2 - a balance o employment & residential activities3 - supporting a vibrant leisure economy4 - tackling deprivation5 - protecting the built heritage6 - quality & quantity o public open space7 - reduce existing overcrowding by providing

new aordable housing6 - securing improvements to transportinrastructure9 - local accessibility10 - ensure regeneration projects provide benetsto all

(tower hamlets city ringe area action plan, pp28-29).

Te desire or the ringe to become an urban district thatwill be everything to everyone does appear naive in manyrespects. Te probability o providing ne, outstandingnew housing as well as modern oce space capable oattracting global companies whilst maintaining the areasvibrant character is a task not to be underestimated.Developing the small business sector, the global nancial

and business centres, creating open spaces and culturalacilities such as new libraries and galleries and not tomention a ourishing evening and night-time tourismsector is ambitious to say the least, but who will trulybenet rom all o this? Te approach that has beenadopted leads one to conclude that policies target toomuch and will arguably deliver nothing.

[c38 denotes denotes the project site]

1.2.03 P e r m i t t e d D e v e l o p m e n t

1.2.03 Permitted Development


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Conservation areas: Te zoning o ower Hamlets doesnot exclusively include areas marked or development.Tere are also a number o conservation areas. Te mostimportant in the context o the project is the Brick Laneand Fournier Street Conservation Area. Designated in July1969 as Fournier Street beore an extension in 1978 andonce again in 1998 when the name was changed to reectBrick Lanes contribution to the character o the area. Tearea encompasses the entirety o Brick Lane rom BethnalGreen Road in the north down to Whitechapel in thesouth.

Brick Lane possesses a diverse mix o ashion, art,entertainment, retail and start-up businesses. Tere weremany actors that contributed to the character o thearea, not least the legacy le by three successive groups oimmigrants.

Whitechapel High Street Conservation Area should alsobe mentioned. It was designated in September 1998. Tearea marks the end o the A11 round which Whitechapelgrew having ormerly been part o Stepney. Whitechapeltook its name rom the 13th century parish church o StMary, owing to its whitewashed walls.

Te street rontage is a reection o the consistentlyintensive use o Whitechapel High Street throughoutthe areas history. However, the historic rontage is nowpunctured by larger, contemporary buildings that areomitted rom the Conservation Area.

1.2.04 Conservation Areas

1.2.04 C o n s e r v a t i o n A r e a s


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Contents Page


1.0 Urban Context





2.0 Project Context




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Local economy:Looking at the economic drivers associatedwith ower Hamlets provides a glimpse o a distortedeconomy at a local scale. Te existence o Canary Whar

in the south western region o the borough is oset by theexistence o the City ringe to the east, yet the economiccomposition in the remaining areas diers vastly romthe services provided in either Canary Whar or the Cityringe.

Earlier investigation o Whitechapel High Streetdemonstrated the deskilling o the area and a departurerom the economic composition seen in Spitalelds andBanglatown histrorically over the previous centuries.However, over the last 30 years ower Hamlets hasexperienced unprecedented transormational changescreated by the growth o the nancial and business services.Te bottom diagram on the le shows that the banking

services are spatially concentrated whilst other services;tier 1 and tier 2, are spread more braodly throughoutthe borough which is reected in the paralleled land usepatterns.

From the diagrams and other analysis within this reportone must agree with ower Hamlets decision to continueattempting to attract nancial and business servies,however it is o critical importance that the developmento this acet o local economy grows with the aim oproviding maximum benet or the residents o theborough. It would also be agreeable or other sectors tobe developed and diversity encouraged to avoid the arealossing the vibrancy and culture that has taken so manyyears to cultivate.

1.3.01 Economic Drivers

1.3.01 M a i n E c o n o m i c D r i v e r s


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Land ownership: Troughout the broad area o owerHamlets the prole o land ownership is ragmented.However, ownership tends to all within three broadcategories. (Commercial Land & Property Study, Aldgate,July 2007)

1 - Not or prot sector bodies: Local authorityownerships NHS

Government Departments HousingAssociations/RSLs Charitableandreligiousgroups

2 - Private amily, small investors and owner-occupiers Historic familyownerships Localowneroccupiedbusinesses Smallinves tor owners Small-scale developerowners Educationalestablishmentsownedland

3 - Larger developer and investor interests Pro-activedeveloperandinvestorowners Fundinginstitutionsandprivateequity/nancehouses Optionedland(evenifshorttermstrategy) Strategically held commercial l and by theCorporation o London

Troughout the last ew years larger scale owners odevelopment land & investment property have been themost active in terms o providing development activitywithin the City ringe area. However, little developmentactivity has occurred in Spitalelds & Banglatown whichis predominantly owned by not or prot sector bodies.

Te result o this is an area with large pockets oconstruction sites located to the east which seeminglymove closer Spitalelds and Banglatown. Tis creates

greater disparity between stock age and condition, whichwill presumably lead to areas o increased rent. As thenumber o new developments increase ewer aordableplaces will exist or local businesses and residents tooccupy. Is the target to reduce social deprivation to beachieved by simply driving out o the area those residentsthat live there now?

1.3.02 Social/Private Develpments

1.3.02 S o c i a l / P r i v a t e D e v e l o p m e n t s


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Tower Hamlets Deprivation: According to the EnglishIndices o Deprivation 2010 - A London Perspective,ower Hamlets is one o three London authorities withthe highest levels o income deprivation in England, theother two are Newham & Hackney. Tis coupled with theact that ower Hamlets also has the highest proportiono its children in income deprivation (see top le map)paints a relatively bleak picture o the social standards o

existence in the borough.

Generally London has relatively low levels o deprivationin the domain o skills. However, ower Hamlets, alongwith Lewisham is one o the only 2 inner city LondonLSOAs* to be among Englands worst ten per cent (seelower le map). Eectively the skills possessed byresidents o ower Hamlets are lacking. Surely rom theseew acts alone one could assume that i skill levels were toincrease then levels o deprivation would reduce. Perhapsthis is an idealised, naive outlook but how can this type othinking not orm a larger part o the councils objectives.I residents were earning better incomes because they wereemployed in more highly skilled positions o employment

then the council would have to contribute less money tosupport the area.

*Lower Layer Super Output Areas - a small area withinwhich specied criteria is used to measure multiple levelso deprivation.

1.3.03 Social/Community Temes

1.3.03 K e y S o c i a l / C o m m u n i t y h e m e s


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Contents Page


1.0 Urban Context





2.0 Project Context




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SCALE 1/2000

2.1.01 Site Location

2.1.01 S i t e L o c a t i o n


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SCALE 1/750

2.1.01 Site Layout

2.1.01 S i t e L a y o u t


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252.1.02 Site Proling

2.1.02 S i t e P r o i l i n g

l


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2 1 02 S i P i l i


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2 1 03 S i t O i t t i


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Sun orientation: the proposal site aces north east. Tesun-path at various intervals can be seen above.

Te orientation o the site poses a challenge o maximisingdaylighting or the proposal. As such glazing will be usedto the ront and rear allowing direct sunlight into thebuilding during the early part o the morning and later

part o the aernoon/evening (dependent upon the timeo year).

Te north wall o the proposal will accommodateindividual pods that will benet rom natural lightthroughout the day, whilst the gradually increasingscale o the proposal rom south to north will allow theront courtyard to be ooded with light throughout themorning and into the aernoon.

2.1.03 Site Orientation

2.1.03 S i t e O r i e n t a t i o n

2 1 04 r a i c / A c c e s s


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292.1.04 rafc/Access

2.1.04 r a i c / A c c e s s

2 1 05 A d j o i n i n g B u i l d i n g s


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Scale: Osborn Street is made up o varying widths orontage, 19th century shopronts in buildings o 2, 3 and4 storeys. Te area is predominantly low-rise, o 3 to 4storeys.

Generally the street scene along the western side oOsborn Street varies but does not exceed 13m in height.Te tallest buildings are at the south western corner oOsborn Street and also the neighbouring building to thenorth.

However, the scale o the City Hotel immediatelyopposing the proposal site is greatly taller than any o thebuildings on the west side o Osborn Street. Te hotel isapproximately 22m in height.

Te proposal will be set back towards the back o the site asa result o the vertical scale o the hotel opposite. Tis willallow greater amounts o daylight to enter the building.Te scale o the proposal is limited to a certain extent byneighbouring buildings as seen in street scene 1, howeverit is considered that the proposal could potentially extendabove these heights,. Tis would potentially provide moreo a bridge o scale to the hotel building.

2 1 05 Adjoining Buildings

2.1.05 A d j o i n i n g B u i l d i n g s

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