The Goodsyard

A new neighbourhood for joint venture development partners Hammerson and Ballymore, to regenerate the ten acre Bishopsgate Goodsyard site, creating a vibrant new mixed-use urban quarter in the heart of Shoreditch focusing on flexible workspace and the creative industries. The plans include 5.9 acres of public realm both at ground level and as part of the proposed park on top of the historic Braithwaite Viaduct. This will include a diverse mix of imaginative landscaped spaces, as well as cafés, restaurants and a hotel, creating active uses as part of the extended ‘high-line’-style walkway. At street level our approach to routes and public spaces includes a new east-west pedestrian street running from Brick Lane to Shoreditch High Street. Our vision for the site is to create an internationally renowned place of exchange where the union of visitors, residents, workers, innovators, and makers continue to build on the creative vibrancy palpable in this district of London. The Goodsyard celebrates existing cultural features, whilst improving the amenities of the public, and enriching a healthier community. Our proposals have been shaped to provide significant areas of open green park space alongside smaller areas of hard and soft publicly accessible places in which people can relax and enjoy the city. We believe by generously inviting neighbours into the Goodsyard it will create a culture of ownership and belonging. The Goodsyard will become a neighbourhood which is inhabited by the people and through their own efforts it will become a purposeful and valuable place in the city. Across the site, open public realm includes the provision over 1,000m² of biodiverse / green roofs, over 180 trees, over 2,500m² of lawn and significant planting; including invertebrate focused planting as well as bird and bat boxes. It is also anticipated that there will be opportunities for urban farming. The heritage assets that exist within the Goodsyard are unique in character and scale. They range from heroic super-structures to intimate small interfaces, the character of which is defined by the multiple layers of patina ingrained on the many surfaces throughout their rich life. This heritage will contribute significantly to the sense of a place and generate economic, social and environmental value. Opening up the Goodsyard and reusing the existing structures to bring shape and character to the development are fundamental in establishing a new identity for the area that is firmly founded on this rich granular history. The street and routes through the site are proposed in a simple layout that integrates with the streets that surround the Goodsyard. A combination of new streets and squares will create a series of new connections across the site, some of which have been lost for over a century. The revised building blocks respond to existing block patterns surrounding the site, creating a contextually appropriate urban grain. On the ground floor a mixture of retail, food and drink and cultural uses aim to create a place that is active, animated and safe for everyone to use. Retail, food and drink are focused on the east-west connections, acting as a draw through the site, with the two main cultural attractions located at the eastern and western ends of the site, connecting with the surrounding area. On the highline level, the development will provide a range of housing types and sizes to meet a range of different needs. This will include 35% affordable housing (based on habitable rooms), of which 70% will be social rent and 30% will be intermediate. The housing has been distributed across a number of buildings to minimise the impact and retain a more appropriate and sensitive scale. The proposed architecture has been inspired by the warehouse building-style that richly characterise this area of Shoreditch and East London. New homes across the site have ‘zero carbon’ target and all other buildings target a 35% improvement on (Part L) Building Regulations. The highline level also provides varied and flexible workspaces across the office campus occupying the western end of the site, ensuring it will not only attract new businesses to the area, but also provide the vital space for existing small businesses, providing opportunity for them to grow. All floorplate levels will be capable of multiple subdivisions and layouts, allowing maximum flexibility for tenant use. It is anticipated that the development will create up to c.10,000 new jobs, plus approximately 5,200 during construction.