London 2012 Greenway

Olympic Delivery Authority

Project to redesign a 3km public walkway running along the southern edge of the Olympic Park from West Ham to Victoria Park that will become a key walking and cycling route before, during and after the London 2012 Games.

Summary

The evolution of this scheme has demonstrated a series of intelligent design responses that have succeeded in retaining the spirit of the competition winning proposal. We welcome the calmness and simplicity evident in the design although we acknowledge that some of the exuberant ideas found in the competition winning scheme will not be achieved as part of this planning application. 

The Greenway’s expansion is greatly welcomed as it presents a logical conclusion for the Games-specific Greenway project and a promising beginning for the project in Legacy. With this longer term aim in mind we see opportunities where the design team’s thinking can inform the post-Games evolution of the scheme. To this end we welcome the appointment of the design team to carry out a Wider Greenway Visioning Study. 

We are pleased to see that project planning now indicates a strategic understanding of the proposal’s Legacy potential and the governance structure required to secure the scheme’s long-term success. We understand that funding commitments, management regimes and strategies for community engagement will take some time to develop and embed within the scheme’s operational programme.  We urge the project partners to remain focused on these elements over the long-term. 

Detailed design

We welcome the calmness achieved in the detailed design work which promises needed durability across all Greenway elements. While the scheme may have lost some of its original exuberance we believe that a thoughtful approach remains evident throughout. We are particularly pleased by the design work in relation to the raised brick planters and seating. Although not formally part of this application, we are also pleased to see that a graphic design collaboration has resulted in an indicative signage strategy that would offer versatility and a sense of unity across the site. One specific element that may need further consideration is the lamppost installations which would function as key Greenway entrance markers. This element may require a more striking proposition to achieve the desired effect. It would be unfortunate if the scheme’s original exuberance was lost on this feature. When these items are resolved at the reserved matters stage efforts should be made to ensure that an aesthetic harmony is achieved between new and re-used fencing elements. The indicative images contained within the application suggest more work is needed in this area.

In our view, the introduction of vertical elements could help to contribute to the legibility and a sense of place in this horizontal landscape. There may also be scope to use planting more architecturally, introducing trees where possible at points along the route; if tree planting does not prove practical, then the introduction of other vertical elements to add verticality and shelter could be explored. The engineering heritage of the Greenway could potentially be one of the project’s greatest assets. We would support creative ways of displaying and highlighting these elements which could add cultural richness to the user experience. We are unconvinced by the citing of security as an argument for not capitalising on these features and making them more apparent to the public. We believe this kind of design work holds opportunities for Greenway enhancement projects in the post-Games era.

Funding and governance

The ongoing work to secure commitments to a sustained funding, management and maintenance regime for the Greenway is promising. In the absence of a coherent and credible strategy we would be concerned about the scheme’s long-term viability and ability to build on the Olympic investment. A concerted effort will be required by the ODA, LDA, local authority, and ultimately regional and national government to work together to ensure a viable post-Games governance structure. Most critically, this structure needs to have robust financial support to capture the scheme’s Legacy opportunities. Now that the design strategy is largely resolved, securing this funding should be a major focus for ongoing project planning.

Community ownership

In our view, community engagement in, and access to, the project should be seen as central to defining the evolving character and function of the Greenway. Failure to engender a sense of community ownership could invite anti-social behaviour that will threaten security and safety, and as a consequence, the long term success of the scheme.  For example, we think that the designers could assist in identifying future community engagement opportunities to ensure that the Greenway has a symbolic relevance to local people.

Vision and integration

We believe there are future opportunities to improve access to the Greenway in relation to access ramps and how the major crossing points are negotiated at Stratford City and the Great Eastern Railway. Design work that explores different ways of configuring and treating access points could point to post-games Greenway enhancement opportunities. 

We think that a design response that anticipates localised ownership of spaces along the length of the Greenway could help to identify specific design opportunities relating to community engagement, security, use and access.  While some of this design work may not directly apply to current planning submissions, it could inform future planning briefs for adjacent development sites thus maximising the Greenway’s long-term regeneration potential. We will also be keenly interested to see how the Legacy Masterplan Framework responds to the opportunities posed by the Greenway. To this end, it would be a worthwhile exercise to examine the legibility and ease of use for the major crossing points into Victoria Park, across the Great Eastern Railway and Stratford High Street.

An inventory of edge conditions along the length of Greenway would assist in identifying long term masterplan opportunities along with engagement strategies for adjacent neighbourhoods. We believe this kind of longer view design thinking must continue for the project to grow in line with development objectives for the area. We welcome the appointment of the design team to carry out a Wider Greenway Visioning Study. 

Olympic experience

In order to ensure confidence in how the Greenway will operate as a gateway into the Olympic Park we now urge LOCOG to work closely with the design team so that a properly integrated 2012 visitor experience can be achieved. This would be assisted by visualisations illustrating how the Greenway will be used. The experience of the Greenway from outside its boundary could also be explored as part of this work.