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Unity Square

Ilford

Background

In 2002 Redbridge council launched its 30-year vision for transforming the centre of Ilford. Progressive Ilford won the Mayor of London’s planning award for ‘best conceptual regeneration project’. A theme of the plan was that the local demand for residential development should be used as a driver for the creation of a range of other facilities.

A key element in Progressive Ilford was to be the creation of a new public space on a 1.7ha site in the centre of the town, but the Unity Square project had several other linked components. Growth Area Funding had made possible a package of work that included refurbishment of a Grade II Listed town hall, around 500 one- and two-bedroom homes, 3,000 square metres of commercial space, and a replacement for the existing Kenneth More Theatre.

The Unity Square project was important to the council for meeting wider aims, including:

  • promoting connectivity with southern areas of Ilford, which tend to be the more deprived areas
  • creating greater access to jobs, including 150 jobs on the site itself
  • strengthening Ilford’s economy, by enhancing its position as the main civic centre in the borough and as a metropolitan centre.