Holloway Prison

The proposal for the site of the former Holloway Prison will create an integrated and reconnected residential masterplan with 985 new homes. 60% of these will be affordable, including 415 for social rent, together with a 1.4-acre public park, and an exemplary Women’s Building. The 4.16-hectare site was used as a prison from the 1850s. As the city has developed around, the site has become increasingly disconnected and isolated from the surrounding urban fabric. The masterplan reconnects the site to the city and stitches it back into the urban grain, creating new routes and framing a new public park which retains and celebrates the existing trees of the prison gardens. The primary vision for the site is to provide high quality homes and spaces that are connected to the surrounding area and retain the green heart of the existing landscape, opening up the historic site to the public for the first time. The masterplan retains many of the best existing trees on the site, some of which pre-date the contemporary prison and are a living memory of the site’s history. In addition, 364 new trees will be planted alongside the existing mature trees. The masterplan is divided into five different plots (Plots A–E), creating 15 buildings with distinct characters and a variety of public spaces and play space for all ages. As a part of the historical legacy a Women’s Building is proposed in the most prominent location in the masterplan. The Women’s Building is the result of extensive engagement with stakeholders and the community. The plan form is intelligently arranged into four distinct and self-contained ‘quadrants’, ensuring long term flexibility and viability by enabling adequate privacy and separation between different parts of the building. This enables a wide range of uses to take place in a range of spaces, to serve different users, over different periods of time and over longer periods of the day/week. Each building arranges homes around shared centrally located stairs and lifts, reducing corridors lengths, in an efficient and organised plan. The introduction of additional facade shaping improves aspect, views and natural ventilation. The homes benefit from excellent internal light for all tenures. The articulated corners have the benefit of separating balconies, while allowing the prime window for each living space to have an unshaded view. Each of the five plots employs a distinct material palette that responds directly to the existing context, and the selection of materials has been carefully influenced by the existing neighbourhood with the aim of complementing the adjacent properties.