Ambitious plans for inhabiting the Greenwich Peninsula have been master-planned by Rogers and then by Farrell, and taken to a detailed level by Erskine Tovatt Architects, with EPR and Proctor Matthews (who designed the second phase of housing within the Erskine framework) as executive architects. Like BedZed, it’s a very green scheme with ‘low energy impact’ ambitions and much talk about ‘self-sustainability’ [sic].
Essentially, the scheme is a series of taller apartment blocks surrounding low-rise terraces with mixed accommodation types. The former are in concrete and the latter are timber and steel framed. Efforts have been made to keep the car at bay whenever possible, but this surely runs against the grain in such an environment. Even though the Jubilee Line is ten minute walk away across the Peninsula’s pleasant but wind-swept park designed by Robert Rummey, this remains as implicitly car-based as any suburbia.
The timber-framed and light steel framed terrace designs are certainly upbeat and well considered (apart from some notorious noise transfer difficulties), but (as with BedZed) one has the feeling that the fiercesome, extrovert cheerfulness of it all and the symbolic proclamation of values might overwhelm the less extrovert personality. Will it last? Can it be easily maintained?
Will the upbeat tenor of it all pale? (Will the potential scheme even be fully constructed?) At the time of writing the answers appear to be positive, as another concreteframed block by the late Erskine is erected. Certainly, the location — within minutes walk of the Jubilee Station and easy access to the road network — suggests long-term success for the peninsula. Nevertheless, the Proctor Matthews designs prompt issues about English housing design and comparisons with what is deemed to be both preferable and acceptable in other European countries (most foreign architects I have taken there are not impressed by the mix of materials and features).
Also see Baron’s Court, p.244.
Designed to exploit panoramic views, this yacht club building (unusual in London, but the club was founded in 1908) is possibly an example of suburbia creeping in and linking up with the Docklands redevelopment (and welcoming visiting sailors): the river here is wide and useable in a manner hardly feasible further upstream. Whilst the building itself — the social focus of the Club — sits 45m offshore on an existing jetty, the boatyard and parking area is on the land side (on the other side of the riverside walkway recently constructed). And Clare Frankl, one of the designers, is even a member of the club!