Silk Park, Hendon

The Silk Park scheme is rooted both in the history of the site and its natural setting in Hendon, London. It transforms what is currently a standard big-box store surrounded by tarmac into a new 2 acre neighbourhood park open to the Silk Stream, and a newly activated street frontage, with a state-of-the-art Sainsbury’s and residential haven gardens above. Located at the confluence of the Silk Stream and Edgware Road, and a short walk from Hendon Station, on the former site of the famous Duple factory, the layout is a dynamic combination of formal and informal geometries; following both the straight line of the Roman road and the soft curve of the stream. The 12 diverse buildings range from four to twenty-eight stories and are harmonised through a common architectural language. Of these, the tallest is a local landmark; set back from the street, greeting those arriving in the park, and enriching the skyline as seen from both directions. The use of scale, subtle variation in materiality, texture, colour and detailing ensures that the buildings each have a unique language that responds to their specific location within the site. Generous lobbies, gateways and individual dwellings activate the street and park edge, with indoor-outdoor cafes forming the transition from urban to natural setting. Meanwhile the entrance to the new Sainsbury’s is expressed by a grand colonnade which creates a civic frontage, in dialogue with the historic Magistrates Court opposite. Above all else, the heart of the project is the park; centerpiece of a playful and playable landscape, with lawns, taller planting , a dramatic water feature and a wilderness walk along the Silk Stream; all playing their part in the wider green network of Hendon, bringing back into safe public use the riverside as a green community amenity and pedestrian corridor linking the site with the wider area of the Welsh Harp Reservoir. Key features of the project include: • New 2 acre South facing park, with playable landscape • New access to Silk Stream wilderness walk • 1.2 acres additional of public open space • 1.6 acres additional haven gardens above supermarket • Civic arcade, active frontages • Gateway loggias facing South • References to rural and industrial history • Contrast between busy and peaceful zones • Diverse architecture • Responsive geometries • New enriched skyline • Natural response to topography • Sustainable infrastructure for waste and energy; ‘suds’, air-source-heat-pumps. • Safeguarded future pedestrian bridge route to Hendon Station • Dialogue with Barnet informing their Tall Buildings Strategy St George and Sainsbury’s gained detailed planning approval from LB Barnet in 2020; providing 1309 dwellings, of which 35% are affordable (by habitable room), a new 9,000 sqm supermarket, with elevated gardens above accessible to all tenures, 950 sqm of flexible commercial space and hidden servicing and car parking. The buildings are designed to be tenure blind. The proposals contribute to aspirations of Barnet, Brent and TFL to reimagine the former Roman road as a pedestrian-friendly urban boulevard and a green residential corridor, and to augment and link together the surrounding green network. The project has involved an exemplary process of collaboration and dialogue with the local community, with Barnet, the GLA, Canal & Rivers Trust and the EA.