Wembley Park, Brent – Quintain

Quintain’s 85-acre Wembley Park is a new neighbourhood home to OVO Arena Wembley and Wembley Stadium as well as retail and food businesses. It has been transformed into an all-year place to live, work, shop and play whilst providing 4,700 homes, office spaces, public spaces with parks and gardens, public squares, wide boulevards for locals and visitors alike to enjoy.

Where is the project located?

Wembley Park, Wembley, Brent, HA9

Who is the developer/client of the project?

Quintain

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

Quintain’s 85-acre Wembley Park is London’s most exciting new neighbourhood. Already home to the iconic OVO Arena Wembley and Wembley Stadium, it is building on its international reputation and becoming a landmark destination with community at its heart.

Wembley Park has been transformed by Quintain from an events destination into a leading 15-minute neighborhood. A far cry from its previous acres of surface car parking, it is now thriving, 365-day mixed-use site in which to live, work, shop and play. As well as over 4,700 homes, a dynamic retail offering and exceptional office space, Wembley Park offers attractive public spaces with parks and gardens, public squares and wide boulevards for locals and visitors alike to enjoy. When completed, nearly half of Wembley Park will be open space. It is the UK’s largest Build to Rent project with over 6,000 high quality rental homes to be managed by Quintain Living by 2027 with buildings and amenities designed with for demographics from families to sharers to downsizers. Current residents range from 0 to 90 years old!

An established business community which has been growing from strength to strength over the last few years includes employers such as EE, The FA, Air France, Casio and Network Homes. The neighbourhood is also home to an exciting retail and food and beverage community, with existing tenants including Amazon Fresh, London’s largest BOXPARK, Bread Ahead and Masalchi, by twice-Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar. London Designer Outlet sees more visitors per annum than Wembley Stadium and Arena combined.

What makes this place thrive? How does the community come together? What makes this a great place to live, work, play, visit or learn?

Wembley Park is a 15-minute neighbourhood with everything needed within a walkable masterplan and award-winning placemaking both at both macro scale and micro scale.

It is within the heart of Brent, London’s most diverse borough. Quintain puts great emphasis on nurturing a sustainable population, providing amenities that meet the needs of the current and emerging community such as affordable artist studios and The Yellow, a purpose-built community centre which provides a weekly programme of free and low-cost activities.

A growing collection of outdoor public art developed transformed Wembley Park’s public spaces and a cultural strategy offers a programme of free events for the community. Highlights include the award-winning International Busking Day, an annual festival supporting street performance; Winterfest, an immersive lights trail; and Wemba’s Dream, with performances co-produced with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which will soon be moving its headquarters to the neighbourhood.

A third of all homes being delivered by Quintain are Affordable – pepper potted throughout every Quintain Living building so all residents have access to the same amenities.

With a growing residential community as well as a growing business community, retailers benefit from a constant stream of customers every day of the week – regardless of changing working habits. Retailers are also supported by a symbiotic landlord/tenant relationship with turnover-based rents.

Union Park – the first new major park to open in the area in centuries - provides an outdoor gym, a paddling pool, multi-use games area, a wooden children’s playground and an abundance of biodiverse planting.

How has this place adapted, and how does it continue to adapt, to changing demographics, behaviours, market context, policy, transport habits and the climate crisis? What makes it resilient?

Wembley Park has changed dramatically since it was simply an events destination with acres of surface car parking (the provision of which is now underground and at the first multi-storey coach park in Europe – which doubles as a location for markets).

The masterplan allows for everyday use as well as continuing to be suitable as a leading events destination, with wide boulevards accommodating a fast egress for 90,000 people.

Quintain employs a Head of Sustainability and an Active Travel Champion to lead the site’s response to the climate crisis.

EV charging points are available. The increasingly cycle-based community can access bike workshops, bike storage, cycle routes, and ‘cycle spas’ for washing.

The former Wembley Stadium pedway, built in the 1970s was replaced with a new set of steps and lifts, liberating significant public realm. The new Olympic Steps are a fitting development for an increasingly residential estate.

A feedback loop from residents to management teams to construction teams ensures continuous improvement in the Build to Rent offer. Amenity design is directed by resident feedback and currently includes a pirate ship play area, heated writing sheds, allotments, libraries and gyms. Spaces are adaptable to suit changing WFH habits. Quintain is truly building homes that people want to rent and the Quintain Living team supports upsizing/downsizing to suit changing family circumstances.

The challenges of large-scale construction amongst a residential neighbourhood, next to the National Stadium have been resolved by vehicle holding areas, clever last-mile logistics and consolidation of material deliveries.

Please share any data or evidence about the social, economic and environmental performance of this place? Article references or quotes from supporters or reviews in the media may also be included.

Quintain’s extensive ESG strategy for Wembley Park covers: PEOPLE, PLACE, AND PROPERTY. More is at quintain.co.uk/sustainability.

PEOPLE

• Local communities are engaged to shape the future of Wembley Park to make it socially sustainable
• Wembley Park’s affordable art studios and a permanent community centre are thriving

PLACE

• The masterplan offers 42 acres of public realm and gardens
• The first portion of an 8-acre park features biodiverse planting, and its pond incorporates a Sustainable Urban Drainage System
• An award-winning tree planting strategy includes over 900 trees from temperate zones across the world

PROPERTY

• A low carbon energy centre serves an extensive district heating network for thousands of homes;
• ‘Envac’ sucks residential waste and recycling down chutes and through underground tunnels to a collection centre at the edge of site, promoting ease of recycling whilst reducing Co2 from refuse lorry movements throughout the estate
• Technology monitors irregular water usage in occupied and unoccupied homes to spot leaks

Councillor Krupa Sheth, Lead Member for Environment at Brent Council, said on Quintain’s use of Envac:

“This is a great example of a developer leading the way, using the latest technology to increase recycling and cut carbon emissions. Wembley Park was the first place in the UK to use this technology and it’s another reason why Brent is getting cleaner and greener. Quintain and Brent Council continue to work closely together to ensure that Wembley Park is a safe, clean and green place to live”.