Urban Design

Buschow Henley’s commitment to enabling communities to develop is encapsulated in its urban design. More than simply designing pleasing urban spaces and landmark buildings, urban design creates the best opportunity to effect the daily lives of those living and working in towns and cities.

Our competition scheme for the Crescent Area in Salford proposed a radical commuting strategy that would have also transformed its blighted surroundings. The proposal proved “a continuous talking point among the assessors . . . . worthy of a special mention for taking such a radical, and entertaining view of the brief.”

This infra-structural approach to urban design that is both humane and sustainable was continued in our competition scheme for Waterford’s waterfront. This thinking led to our work at St. Mary’s Island in Chatham, a masterplan to provide over 400 new homes on a 7 hectare brownfield site; the Kirkgate Area in Leeds where we redeveloped this city centre site next to the Corn Exchange to incorporate the listed First White Cloth Hall by a creating two new squares; and, most recently, Buckland Court in Hackney which comprises environmental improvements and landscaping to a 1960’s inner city housing estate.

By contrast our proposals for Stratford Centre in London “Furthest Highest Fastest” communicate a series of ideas about dimension and time in public space.