Regents Place, London Borough of Camden, for British Land, with Townshend Landscape Architects and Nex Architects

Fronting Euston Road, the 5.26ha Regents Place is a mixed use campus, with a focus on office space, owned and operated by British Land. Local communities were engaged to develop a design which incorporated significant public areas of new planting, paving and street furniture to create a habitable, attractive public realm where people can sit. A £200,000+ Regent’s Place Community Fund also supports 30 community projects across 15 local organisations.

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

Townshend Landscape Architects – Landscape architect 

M3 Consulting – Development Manager

Nex Architecture – Architect for the Pavilions 

Xylotek - Timber fabrication in relation to the Pavilions 

Arup – MEP/Structure/Sustainability/Fire/Lighting 

Maylim – Main contractor on Phase 2 works

Lendlease – Main Contractor on Phase 1 Works 

DP9 – Planning consultant 

AECOM – Cost consultant 

Andy Sturgeon Design – Concept landscape Architect for Longford Place

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

Regent’s Place is a 13-acre mixed use campus, with a focus on office space, owned and operated by British Land. The project brief asked for a design to transform the existing public realm from an uninviting corporate aesthetic dominated by hard landscape, into a welcoming public amenity to be enjoyed by occupiers and visitors alike. The campus is located on the Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden at the meeting point of contrasting neighbourhoods: Fitzrovia, Somers Town, and the Regent’s Park Estate a predominantly residential area with community uses, including schools and community centres. It is part of the Knowledge Quarter, a consortium of over 100 academic, cultural, research, scientific and media organizations with the shared aim of advancing and disseminating knowledge. The Knowledge Quarter works with its members ‘to identify and support work that improves our local environment, creating a great place for people to live, work and visit’. A retrofit scheme, the design addressed a number of complex aspects including load balancing the landscape above existing basements, working with constrained buildup depths and incorporating extensive areas of basement ventilation. The scale of the buildings also created a challenging shady, windy microclimate. The team worked closely with British Land and consulted the local communities to develop a design which incorporated significant areas of new planting, paving and street furniture to create a habitable, attractive public realm where people can sit, play and engage as part of a site wide promotion of healthy and active lifestyles.

How does this public space bring people together, encourage inclusivity, and make a positive environmental impact to the wider place? How is the community engaged in the project?

The revitalised Regent’s Place fosters well-being through its green spaces and provides a welcoming environment for tenants, pedestrians, and the local community. New opportunities have been created from play spaces to the north sitting adjacent to the residential communities, to communal social areas complimenting and supporting the evolving use of the surrounding buildings. Alongside British Land the team established a brief for a series of community structures within the public realm and worked alongside NEX Architects to incorporate three bespoke timber pavilions which act as focal points. The three new pavilions are semi-sheltered spaces designed for friends and colleagues to sit and relax between meetings or after-work hours, for outdoor theatre and music performances and for play. People’s engagement with the new public realm is not only a result of the realised design but also the process which was undertaken to get it there. Alongside early community engagement the design team and British Land worked with the educational charity Global Generation, providing them a series of interim spaces within the campus prior to redevelopment. Global Generation work together with local children and young people, businesses, residents and families to create healthy, integrated and environmentally responsible communities. They facilitated conversations and events to engage the involvement of these communities, and their garden teams have looked after some of the planting in the public areas of Regent’s Place. This early stewardship brought diversity, engagement and furthered the green vision for the scheme.

Please share any data or figures that support your entry about how this public space or landscape intervention has made a positive social or environmental impact, for example biodiversity, increased dwell time, flood or drainage mitigation, wellness or safety or other ecosystem services

As a client, British Land have a series of Wellbeing Principals for placemaking which identifies design goals and guided the evolution of the brief and the design. The design proposals were supported by the Arup sustainability team who provided advice on Biodiversity and the materials impacts. The scheme has increased the amount of greenery threefold, providing local improvements to micro-climate, air quality and ameliorating wind conditions. Species included Plants for Pollinators. Nature is woven into every-day experiences. One of London’s largest living walls at 36 metres long and nearly 9.7m high has been installed incorporating over 22,000 plants and 50 habitat boxes. The decision to source stone from Europe instead of China generated 5 times less embodied carbon (520tCO2e vs 80tCO2e). Areas of paving originally within the scope to remove were retained to reduce the carbon footprint further. Where possible the local production principle was used entrusting the sourcing and manufacturing to local UK suppliers to reduce the transportation emissions associated with sourcing materials from afar. Active modes of transport are promoted; vehicle access within the campus has been removed. The design creates sociable places, promoting positive relationships and encounters between people. Surfaces and furniture have been designed to be inclusive for all ages and abilities. New lighting extends the hours of use. The design encourages footfall to move people away from the busy and traffic dominated Euston Road towards the calmer and protected environment of Regents Place.