Harringay Warehouse District, London Borough of Haringey, for Provewell, with Ruth Campbell & Co, Tibbalds, Morris+Company, Container City and Dakota

Within the boundaries of Overbury Road and Eade Road, the Harringay Warehouse District comprises a total of 2.35ha. In addition to commercial spaces and new shipping container work units associated with a communal garden, 5000sqm of co-living is proposed alongside a cafe, work/artist studios and public realm improvements at the Seven Sisters site.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

RuthCampbell & Co – Landscape Architects 

Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design - Planning Consultant

Morris & Co - Architects

Expedition – M&E / Sustainability Engineer

London Structures Lab – Structural Engineers

Dakota – Project Management

Container City – Contractor

Describe the context of this project and the point it has reached in its development. Who was there in this place before development, where have they gone, who is there now and who will be there in future? When is the project expected to be complete?

The HWD is a project where RC&co have been developing a landscape and public realm strategy that define and enhance communal and public spaces to increase a cohesive sense of site-wide community identity. With a focus on improved connectivity, legibility and sustainability, pragmatic short- and long-term proposals are being developed across the entire estate. At the moment of this application a variety of different interventions have already started to be put in place - paving the way for larger scale improvements, such as;

A Signage Strategy Wayfinding maps and building numbers all act to ensure that postal delivery, business drop-offs and visiting pedestrians are no longer lost within the district.

B Overbury Yard – new work spaces - completed New shipping container work units to provide additional workspace and creation of a new communal garden in the place of an underused yard that has previously antisocial behaviour issues including drug-use and -dealing.

C Parklets implantation – PL application submitted Reclamation of parking spaces on Overbury Road to increase biodiversity and provide much needed refuse and cycle storage.

D Improvements on Eade yard – PL application submitted Introduction of a new commercial unit and associated hard and soft landscaping improvements to bring activity to an otherwise unused yard.

E Seven Sisters Site - PL application submitted The scheme provides new co-living units and workspaces for residents as well as improvements on the public realm allowing visitors to enjoy a new public space at ground floor that at the moment is misused.

How are you seeking to foster community, welcome visitors and attract tenants? How are you responding to changing demographics, behaviour, market context, policy, transport habits and the climate crisis since winning planning?

Over the past three years, the design team has diligently focused on developing a comprehensive site framework, engaging in both interim and concurrent subprojects. Our collective efforts have been dedicated to enhancing the urban environment for the existing community as well as creating new spaces for new citizens to live and work. Throughout this period, citizens have actively participated in several public consultations, offering valuable insights and perspectives on various projects within the site. These initiatives include, traffic calming, parking, waste facilities, bike storage, a new wayfinding strategy as well as a new co-living mix used scheme. The importance of participatory design in this endeavour cannot be understated, as its primary goal is to empower the existing community to improve their environment and the overall experience within the site. This can be seen for example in, 2 Overbury Yard, a negative space used for car storage, illegal parking and encouraging antisocial behaviour that has now been converted into a new working space with an outdoor communal space for both, existing residents as well new potential ones. The ongoing Seven Sisters project will also endeavour these by acting as a gateway into the District, announcing a visitor’s arrival through a change in urban grain, street furniture specification and materiality. The inclusive approach adopted by the design team not only seeks to benefit current residents, but also strives to attract and engage new citizens creating a welcoming atmosphere that encourages people to become part of the vibrant community. 

What is your sustainability strategy and how are you mitigating carbon use and construction pollution?

A significant site analysis has helped us setting out the principles for our urban landscape approach to ensure an immediate and large impact on site, allowing residents to use their spaces in a variety of ways, be that active, peaceful, sociable or playful. As part of the sustainability strategy, various measures are being proposed and implemented at different scales. Starting with simple yet impactful changes: - Amelioration of the waste management system on Overbury Rd Transitioning to larger ’eurobins;’ allows more frequent collections, require fewer bins on the streets and prevent the regularly overflowing leaving rubbish in the streets. - Conversion of Overbury Road into a one-way road A one-way system and widening existing footways at both ends and the introduction of a raised table at the corner of Overbury Road are proposed with the aim of reduce the traffic in the area. - Creation of SUDs SuDS will act as permeable boundaries, as well as planted features on connecting routes, accompanied by permeable paving while helping to improve rainwater runoff rates across the district. - Inclusion of BioSolar roofs Bio-solar roofs’ are proposed across the site. The benefits of such a system are mainly renewable energy generation and improvement of biodiversity within the site. These comprehensive measures contribute to creating a more vibrant and environmentally friendly community space and ensure that the site will not require a high level of maintenance, but will instead settle into a natural equilibrium over time.