Peckham Rye Station Square

This highly complex urban regeneration project for Southwark Council in the heart of Peckham will form a major new public open space in front of the handsome, listed Victorian station designed by Charles Henry Driver in 1865. Initial designs involved an extensive co-design process, working with local business owners and residents to establish the extent and impact of removing several existing buildings, with a highly complex relocation programme which included the construction of an off-site building for several local business and a full public inquiry in order to provide Southwark with the necessary Compulsory Purchase powers.

The project will reinstate the original forecourt in front of the station, replacing a network of narrow, dim alleyways with a generous open space, revealing a series of arches beneath the pair of viaducts which will form the edges to the new space. Working with collaborating artist Wendy Hardie, creative themes have been drawn from indigenous West African painted buildings and traditional kente fabrics, reflecting the UK’s largest West African community.

The first phase of on-site construction is now underway and involves the refurbishment and extension of an adjacent corner block on Blenheim Grove to provide new community facilities, a glazed roof garden, along with decant space for several existing tenants including a high street bank, dentist and local food retailers. The second phase of work will entail demolition of the buildings in front of the station and formation of the new square itself.

The project was highly commended in the NLA unbuilt category in 2017.