Greenwich Peninsula Masterplan, London
(1999 - present)

Home to London's Millennium Dome, the Greenwich Peninsula is a highly constrained development site bearing the scars of a diverse industrial history. Covering 74 hectares with 2.5 km of riverside, its comprehensive regeneration marks one of the largest planning applications ever submitted in London and presented significant challenges to the design team.

At its heart was the need to create an urban quarter for London embodying the concept of growth, renewal and rebirth while embracing the existing infrastructure. Terry Farrell and Partners approached the site as an urban grid laid out over the pattern of land ownership responding to the geometry of the Dome. This created a network of streets, squares and parks ensuring clear lines of connection north to south and arching cross streets around the curve of the Dome.

The immense scale of the project envisages 10,000 homes for 25,000 residents, 27,000 jobs, a leisure and entertainment destination in the Dome centered around a new 26,000 capacity Arena, and enhanced community and transport facilities. We created a series of distinctive urban districts including four new residential neighbourhoods, an office and retail district structured around the bus and tube interchange, five public parks and twelve public squares.

The phasing of the masterplan is led by the rejuvenation of the Dome, with residential development taking place simultaneously at the north west and south west areas of the peninsula. In this way, the full range of tenures is delivered throughout the evolution of the masterplan.

The proposals demonstrate a comprehensive and sustainable approach to the planned development of a whole new urban district. Local planning approval was granted only 17 weeks after submission, followed swiftly by the endorsement of the Greater London Authority and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which signifies the strength of support from local up to national level.