A unique opportunity to reframe the focus of the Lower Lea Valley around the Lea River
Lea River Park — London
Client
London Legacy Development Corporation / London Thames Gateway Development Corporation / Lee Valley Regional Park Authority / Design for London / LB Newham / LB Tower Hamlets
Collaborators
Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects / Alan Baxter Associates / Capita / Ecology Consultancy / Latz + Partner, Colliers CRE / Davis Langdon / Jane Wernick Associates / Whitby Bird
5th studio have been involved as master planners and architects for the development of the public realm of the Lower Lea Valley since 2007.
Our principle engagement in the valley has been with the Lea River Park; it is central to the wider regeneration of the area, which will continue to undergo massive change over the coming decades. In 2008 5th studio completed the Lea River Park Design Framework, creating a vision, landscape strategy and delivery framework, which has informed local planning policies and the projects currently being delivered.
The Lea River Park connects Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to the Royal Docks and the River Thames with new continuous public parklands - ‘completing’ the 26-mile long Lee Valley Regional Park. The strategic first phase of this vision is the delivery of a linear park named the Leaway, which creates a continuous walking and cycling route along the River Lea. This connects a series of existing but fragmented public open spaces. Over time this route will be added to with new parks and additional pedestrian and cycle connections, delivered as land becomes available.
The initial vision for the Lea River Park as a landscape incorporated into the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley
The park as a key layer in incorporating the massive investment in regeneration and housing into the Lower Lea Valley
The existing working valley and its river
The River Lea re-imagined as a setting for innovation and recreation
The listed Bromley-by-Bow gasholders have the potential to create a London-scale destination
The spectacular vista from East India Dock Basin where the Leaway meets the Thames
The Lea River Park Design Framework – sets out a framework for the delivery of the park
The Leaway is the first phase in delivering this park, in tackling the most challenging physical severances that affect the Lea River Park, these projects fulfil a key-enabling role. By providing the backbone of the emerging park, the Leaway will be instrumental in creating and assembling 235ha of new and improved public open space within the Lower Lea Valley.
This requires the delivery of a series of infrastructural and public realm projects to overcome key disconnections down the valley. These first phase projects have been designed in detail and are going to be delivered in the next few years.
Projects have ranged from new bridges spanning the Lea, developing proposals for visitor centres to the delivery of new riverside landscapes. Alongside individual projects 5th studio continued to provide an overarching design advisory role, helping to coordinate this cross-borough project and its integration into the regeneration of the Lower Lea Valley.
A new foreground for east London stretching from the Thames to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
The judges were taken by the practice’s approach — rather than traditional top-down masterplanning, it mended the existing through careful weaving with the new.
Masterplanning Architect of the Year Award, 2012 Judges citation
View from Poplar Reach Bridge towards Poplar Reach Park – the bridge will provide a connection from the first phase of the Leaway to a new 6ha active park landscape
The completed Twelvetrees Crescent Ramp provides a key vertical connection between the towpath and Twelvetrees Crescent Bridge
The scheme explores the family of details proposed for the park structures
Twelvetrees Crescent Ramp seen from the Cody Wilds riverside
A new stair connection provides a shortcut down from Twelvetrees Crescent to the Cody Wilds riverside
Bespoke Leaway perches act as repeating elements along the route as part of a family of Leaway street furniture
A new publicly accessible riverside space has been created at the entrance to the Bow Creek Ecology Park
The existing landscapes were reworked to invite local residents to discover the river as a recreational setting
Existing trees of value were retained and formed the framework for the new landscaping strategy
Three Mills Green in 2010 before works began
The first completed section of the Leaway at Three Mills Green
Severances caused by the wharves along the River Lea
Proposed new riverside walks, providing a public edge to the wharves, and connecting Cody Dock to Canning Town
Silvertown Viaduct dominates the Silvertown Way development sites
The viaduct re-imagined as a civic infrastructure incorporating community facilities, improved public realm, and cycle facilities.
The completed re-landscaping of Three Mills Green was Highly Commended in the Landscape Institute 2012 Awards
While the Olympic Park and its associated paraphernalia of furniture and lighting did its best to lay a freshly designed carpet over an area of shagginess, 5th Studio’s work feels more like the kind of hard-working infrastructure that might have always been here.
Oliver Wainwright, The river that London forgot, The Guardian, April 2017
Lea River Park: A New Landscape for London, at New London Architecture Gallery, 6-27th April 2017
