Chadwell Heath Transformation Area is a vision for a new neighbourhood in Barking and Dagenham. It will deliver an ambitious mix of industrial & employment uses alongside new homes, gaming & media.

Chadwell Heath Transformation Area is a vision for a new neighbourhood in Barking and Dagenham. It will deliver an ambitious mix of industrial & employment uses including scope for gaming, media, and other tech industries. A creative industrial intensification strategy, across the 32-hectare site, will provide land for delivery of circa 4000 new homes, open space, new schools, and local amenities.

Chadwell Heath sits in the north of Barking and Dagenham and adjacent to Chadwell Heath Station with Crossrail link into central London. The industrial site is bounded by residential areas on four sides and has a major road running through its centre. Wellbeing is at the heart of this placemaking vision and this new transformation will prioritise major green arteries that connect from the surroundings and station, converging on a central Market Square, via new parks and pocket squares. Streets are designed for pedestrian and cycle movement, with a cycle super-highway on the north of the site.

The vision rethinks industrial value and the role that industry can play in animating the streets and squares. Residential use sits alongside this industry with small and medium-size businesses that have ‘shop windows’, creating life and space for collaboration. Nowhere is this more apparent than with ‘Saw Mill’ – a major industrial-led workplace, that integrates co-working with sustainable fabrication and educational space. The grand hall spills out on the public square and green spine. This new factory for the future could deliver the homes at Chadwell Heath, through modern methods of construction and in turn provide employment and education to the area.

The improved and intensified industrial space at Chadwell Heath will provide a home for London’s future industries – a toolbox for London. It will target young people and young families to create life and vibrancy, with affordable homes and workplaces.

“This site at Chadwell Heath presented a number of challenges; a site disconnected from its surroundings, with poor infrastructure and multiple ownerships. Challenges can also bring opportunities, and with our proposal we wanted to set the agenda for the delivery of future-facing industry. Our aim was to create a variety of experiences within each Neighbourhood and explore the future of industry, sitting comfortably alongside residential, tech, workplace and cultural uses. The existing industrial urban grain and working yards had evolved in a piecemeal fashion, with significant under-utilisation of land across the site. In response, a transformative strategic plan must address movement and connectivity, alongside appropriate density that is balanced with open space and amenity.

The sequencing of this development is particularly challenging; freeing up plots for new industry and homes and decanting businesses to alternative locations on the site. Much of the focus centres around the Muller site, owned by Be First. It will become the major centre for the site, with its Market Square connecting to green arteries that extend out to transport connections. A variety of experiences within each neighbourhood can be created with residential, tech, workplace and cultural uses. In doing so, this transformation can have a significant impact not only in Barking and Dagenham but for London – setting the agenda for the delivery of future-facing industry.”


Scott Grady
Director
Haptic Architects