Our work at East Croydon demonstrates the importance of gluing a project into a bigger picture, zooming out before zooming in, to establish the investment that would make the biggest difference.
Strategy
This was our opportunity to make the station – the seventh busiest in the UK – and the area around it into a well-connected and well-considered new neighbourhood. After formulating a masterplan, we were commissioned by the London Borough of Croydon, alongside Hawkins/Brown, to design a new station bridge. We’d explored the feasibility of building a station concourse on a raft over the railway lines, allowing for extra track capacity and the introduction of two more platforms, but it was our plan for an east-west bridge that proved to be the perfect answer.
Two major developments, one on either side of the tracks, had been the subject of heated discussion over the last 10 years, and first we needed to understand the different requirements of the two buildings and marry these with the technical constraints of a transport interchange. It soon became clear that the success of this project was actually dependent on the improvement of the connectivity to the station and, most importantly, across the railway tracks that divided the town.
Our complex consultation process, involving numerous public and private stakeholders, was critical to our success; we needed to listen, understand and represent fairly the agendas of each party in testing development scenarios to achieve consensus. We also conducted one-on-one conversations with each stakeholder outside of the steering group meetings to better understand their particular needs and aspirations. It’s been about forging relationships, understanding the needs of the community and helping the public sector unlock the potential of the site in as effective a way as possible.
This 100-metre-long, 700-tonne bridge was designed in collaboration with engineering firm Mott Macdonald and assembled by the contractor BAM Nuttall. It’s made up of rectangular rather than diagonal units to create a single elegant ‘Vierendeel’ truss structure. The construction challenge was to minimise disruption to the station; it was prefabricated in sections off site, assembled next to the tracks, and then craned into place over the course of just two weekends. Just as planned, the station remained open throughout.
Outside the station we designed a seamless and well-integrated interchange for trams, buses, taxis and bikes, together with better arrangements for pedestrians.
Sustainability
The bridge and wider masterplan have acted as catalysts for many other investments, including GLA funding for improvements to Lansdowne Road and TfL funding for the interchange and public realm. They’ve also kickstarted investment into Boxpark Croydon, the Ruskin Square development by Stanhope, and the Menta scheme which will deliver around 340 new homes.
Our work at East Croydon demonstrates the importance of gluing a project into a bigger picture, zooming out before zooming in, to establish the investment that would make the biggest difference. By focusing on the need for a new station bridge to open up the east-west connection across the tracks, we unlocked the sites on both sides of the station and allowed the stalled projects on each side to move forward.
Team
