New Southmere village provides affordable homes & new jobs at lakeside site

Tenderstream member Mecanoo is celebrating the completion of Southmere village, which forms the first phase of a masterplan developed in collaboration with Proctor and Matthews architects for the South Thamesmead and Abbey Wood Housing zone. South Thamesmead includes the very first homes delivered as part of the original masterplan, making Thamesmead not only the biggest regeneration project in London, but one of the largest in the UK.

The first phase forms the civic heart of South Thamesmead, with a design that focusses on connectivity, community and character in order to deliver a coherent community with affordable homes and new jobs. The village occupies a large site on the edge of Southmere Lake, and includes a new public square that act as the focal point for local residents and visitors. A double height colonnade encloses the square at ground level, activating the plinth with shop frontages and building entrances.

The ensemble can be seen as a new interpretation of the projects that were built at the end of the 19th century by the Peabody Trust, with an open built fabric that makes a clear distinction between the public, private and collective spaces connected to the residential units. Clusters of connected buildings, grouped around raised shared courtyards, differ in height and host a variety of housing  typologies, creating smaller communities within the larger whole. On the ground, floor a mixed-use programme offers active frontages and lively surroundings.

The predominant facade material for the ensembles is brick, which adds a warmer feel to the existing concrete buildings. Mecanoo’s design integrates Blewbury House and Tilehurst Point, recently refurbished 13-storey residential blocks that form the last remnants of the site’s preceding 1967 masterplan.

Lucy Nordberg
Tenderstream Head of Research

This tender was first published by Tenderstream on 27.10.2020 here

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