Bromley

2011-2019

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Trees, greenery and attractive planting are at the heart of our public-realm strategy for Bromley, making the town a much greener and more bio-diverse place.

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Trees, greenery and attractive planting are at the heart of our public-realm strategy for Bromley, making the town a much greener and more bio-diverse place.

Strategy

We’ve been working with the London Borough of Bromley to shape a new public-realm strategy for the town centre. As urban designers and landscape architects, we’ve been involved in all design stages, from vision and strategy through to detailed design, and the final piece of the public realm was installed in early 2019.

Location:

London, UK

Client:

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy
London Borough of Bromley
U+I plc
St Marks Square

Role:

Urban Designer and Landscape Architect (Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy). Design Architect (St Marks Square Hotel)

Status:

Completed 2019

Collaborators:

Guy Hollaway Architects
PEP
MTT
NTR PLANNING
Buro Happold

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

For Market Square, we identified a new street-market layout that would create more legibility for the overall public realm, provide better pedestrian flow and also rationalise the current layout with a greater overall capacity for existing and new traders. The sunniest part of the High Street is now free of market stalls, all of which have relocated to Market Square, and has become a ‘high-street garden’, with raised beds and places to sit and relax.

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

We also supported Guy Holloway Architects in bringing forward the redevelopment of St Mark’s Square at the southern end of the town centre. This scheme for developers U+I was granted planning permission in spring 2012 and is now nearing completion. With a landscaped public square, 200-homes, a 130-bed hotel, a 10-screen cinema, a 400-space car park and 25,000 square feet of cafes and restaurants, this leisure-led, mixed-use development project is a major catalyst in helping to shape the future direction and prosperity of the town.

Specificity

Our proposals transformed East Street from a car-dominated, double-parked road to a shared surface with space for cafes and restaurants to spill out.

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

We planted new street trees to establish a green corridor through the town centre, and – after consulting with the Kent Association for the Blind – we’ve made a clear and legible tactile route as part of the footpath design.

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

The hotel, along with the landscaped square and mixed-use buildings, has utterly transformed the former site of the Westmoreland Road car park. St Mark’s Square has become a flagship development for the town and a destination in itself.

The elevation of the 130-bed hotel at St Mark’s Square takes its cue from the Broom flower – from which Bromley gets its name – and the hotel’s simple, curvaceous white mass is enlivened with stainless-steel ‘Broom flower’ flourishes. The hotel, along with the landscaped square and mixed-use buildings, has utterly transformed the former site of the Westmoreland Road car park. St Mark’s Square has become a flagship development for the town and a destination in itself.

St Mark's Square Hotel

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

Sustainability

Trees, greenery and attractive planting were at the heart of our vision for Bromley, and our public-realm strategy has made the town a much greener and more biodiverse place. Trees give shade and a changing backdrop, and our planters – which, like the new hotel elevation, are in the shape of the Broom flower – are filled with a range of tree types, structural shrubs, seasonal-interest plants and low-level ground cover.

Bromley Town Centre Public Realm Strategy

Our work in Bromley is based upon ‘healthy-street principles’. We’re promoting pedestrian priority, accommodating flexible uses and encouraging human interaction by building a landscape that is people-friendly above all.