The Journey So Far
It has been recognised from the outset that the involvement, support and early participation of local residents and stakeholders as partners in the regeneration process are critical.
The Woodberry Down Regeneration Scheme dates back to 1999. In 2002 a structural evaluation was undertaken to enable Hackney Council and the residents to gain a full understanding of the conditions of the buildings and infrastructure on the estate. The main conclusions were:
- Many buildings have structural defects
- Many buildings are beyond economic repair
The results of the evaluation revealed that buildings could no longer be refurbished and comprehensive redevelopment was the only realistic option. No Government money was available for rebuilding Council Housing, so new homes for sale in the private market to fund the rebuilding of affordable homes was necessary.
The following objectives were agreed:
- Rebuild all the social rented housing currently in use
- Build additional homes for sale, to pay for the redevelopment
- Build additional shared ownership homes
- Build additional key worker homes
- Build new homes for leaseholders
Area Action Plan
An Area Action Plan was prepared by Hackney Council in August 2004, and involved considerable consultation with key stakeholders and the community. Its purpose was to set out broad planning policies and guidelines for the area.
Key provisions included:
- Public open space should cover not less than 10% of the Woodberry Down area, in addition to the strip of Metropolitan Open Land that runs along the southern stretch of the New River.
- Parking provision of approximately 50% across the area as a whole — one space for every two homes, with good facilities for cycling and walking, and to encourage the use of public transport.
- There should be a mix of uses and tenures at Woodberry Down to make an exciting vibrant community, with top quality buildings and excellent urban design.
Key Milestones Achieved
Date | Milestones |
|---|---|
| July 2004 | Woodberry Down Area Action Plan approved |
| January 2005 | Urban Design Framework agreed |
| August 2006 | First Phase Principal Development Agreement with Berkeley Homes |
| February 2007 | Compulsory Purchase Orders made for first phase sites |
| May 2007 | Detailed Planning Application on first site (Old School land) submitted |
| October 2008 | Outline Planning Approval for Masterplan |
| March 2009 | Preferred RSL Partner selected for Phases 2 – 5 |
| March 2009 | Start of construction on Old School Site of 117 social rented new homes |
Urban Design Framework
In 2005 the Council commissioned an Urban Design Framework (UDF), to take forward the Area Action Plan and to demonstrate the potential of Woodberry Down as a well-designed urban neighbourhood taking advantage of the natural resources at Woodberry Down. It explained the conceptual framework for the regeneration and developed a series of key principles in consultation with residents.
These include:
- Large development sites, potentially attracting significant long-term inward investment
- Addressing the housing imbalance by providing choice of tenure and dwellings
- Improving community facilities
- An opportunity to increase the quantity and quality of public open space
- Creating active frontages along the New River and the reservoirs
- Improving the streetscape
- Reorganising open space to increase accessibility
Appointment of Developer and RSL for Kick Start Sites
It was agreed that a developer would be appointed to commence substantive redevelopment of Woodberry Down as early in the programme as possible. In November 2005 Berkeley Homes was chosen through a competitive tender process as the developer for the Phase 1 kick start sites. This paves the way for the building of over 1,500 new private and affordable homes.
Early Progress
New community services and facilities have been achieved early in the regeneration through Government and SRB6 investment. These included the £30 million new Academy, the Woodberry Works construction training centre, a satellite library, an elder people’s day centre, CCTV system, an upgrade to the local community centre and a commission to look at community cohesion.
An investment of £16 million was made by the Homes and Communities Agency to commence building of social rented units in 2009.
Masterplan
During late August and mid September 2005, Woodberry Down residents had the opportunity to contribute to discussions on the Masterplan through interactive Workshops. Comments and views from these workshops have been used to feed into the Masterplan.
The Masterplan acts as the outline planning permission for Woodberry Down. This sets out in detail the way forward for delivering the total living environment, from the phasing programme to the tenure mix and key strategies such as the environmental statement through to energy strategies and social impact assessments.
The Outline Planning Permission was approved for the redevelopment of Woodberry Down on the 16th October 2008, subject to a Section 106 Agreement and other matters. It provides for 4,412 homes, 41% of which are affordable, comprising a mix of flats ranging from 1-bed to 5-bed and a number 5/6-bed houses, with associated car parking, at an overall site provision rate of 50%.
The Masterplan includes 38,500sqm of community facilities, including 5,000sqm of retail buildings within classes A1–A5; 3,150sqm of class B1 Business use; and 30,000sqm of class C1 and D1 uses, including education, a health centre, a children’s centre, community centres and a youth centre.
Other features detailed in the Masterplan include:
- The provision of new civic spaces, public parks and open spaces and the landscaping of the edges of the New River
- A reduction in the width of Seven Sisters Road from 6 to 4 lanes and improvements to the public realm
- The development of new access points to the Woodberry Down neighbourhood including a crossing over the New River into Haringey
- The creation of new and improved cycle and pedestrian routes to and within Woodberry Down, including from the north to south across Seven Sisters Road
- The principles for ensuring an environmentally friendly development, including guidelines for solar power and green and brown roofs.
The Masterplan explains the vision of a total living environment and details how Woodberry Down will look in the future, showing the location of new housing, open spaces and community facilities.
The Six Masterplan Principles
- A truly sustainable community – This is about much more than new housing – plans also include new community, education, health, business and youth facilities
- A diverse and balanced population – A wide choice of housing tenures will be made available
- Bigger Homes – All social rented housing (replacing the existing Council housing) will be built 10% larger than the Parker Morris standard
- Environmentally friendly – New homes that will be energy efficient with environmentally friendly materials
- Better public spaces and play facilities – New parks and squares are proposed, with a variety of play and sports facilities
- Streets for people – New streets designed to put people first
Homes will be designed to maximise the excellent views Woodberry Down offers. Options will include waterside living, with many homes overlooking the reservoirs or the New River; or with views across North London, Canary Wharf or the City of London.
The design of the public realm will be fresh and exciting and will include high quality street art that captures the imagination of design-conscious residents.
The scheme is designed to provide a highly integrated social infrastructure of new community facilities, retail and leisure opportunities that will meet the needs of the whole community. This will be enhanced by the added attraction of the excellent transport links to Central London for both work and leisure.
Parking provision will be limited to reflect these public transport links, and graduated to reflect the proximity of Manor House tube station.
Parking spaces will be directed to those in larger homes and around half of the car parking spaces provided will be above ground, mainly for existing residents within a Controlled Parking Zone, with the rest underground primarily for new private residents.
Information correct as of 5 February 2010