barking central
Barking Central
Masterplanning Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Client Redrow
Public space MUF
Additional Barking resources on RUDI and elsewhere
Turning the tide: Thames Gateway project overview, including Barking projects (pdf file)
A13 Artscape, Barking (public arts project)
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Local Development Framework
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Barking Central is designed by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, originally for Urban Catalyst – now for Redrow, to create 200 homes and a lifelong learning centre on the site of an original library. The project sits adjacent to the existing town hall and includes the creation of a new civic square.
Phase one of the £27 million project is completing – Barking Central's first phase consists of 246 residential apartments and an AHMM-designed public library and learning centre which opened on 18 June 2007. Redrow received planning permission in the summer of 2007 for the second phase of its £100m Barking Central scheme. Construction is expected to begin shortly on Phase two, to be completed by 2010.
Phase two, which features housing, office and retail scheme, although granted full planning permission, is still subject to planning gain deal sign off, to be approved by the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation (LTGDC).
Redrow will be building five new buildings designed by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM) to house 272 new homes, including 18 affordable three-bed units, 1,950sq metres of commercial space and 1,720sq metres of retail space.
The scheme will incorporate a three-acre public space larger than Trafalgar Square, designed by landscape architect and public realm design firm MUF.
Public space designs
MUF was commissioned to design the public realm for Barking Town Centre as part of the mayor's 100 public spaces programme. Barking, at the centre of the new Thames Gateway development, has existing spaces that are overshadowed and windy. muf are proposing to exploit this condition: filling one open space with a forest; extending the existing walkway to form an arcade creating a new pedestrian connection, and marking the area in front the Town Hall with a single mature magnolia tree.
The Arcade and the Forest: The North facade of AHMMs new building for the square is pulled back at the ground floor creating an eight metre high arcade. In the spirit of celebrating municipal provision, we have introduced large scale candalabra and propose a tiled geometric floor material. The candelabra brings a more human scale suspended at four metres - the tiling marks the route to the Town Hall and refers to the long-lost but lamented Edwardian villas and their front paths. The trees are positioned to accommodate the desire lines that run diagonally across the site.
