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masterplanning strategy and placemaking vision
The Lea Bridge Gateway SIL Vision is one of four spatial masterplans that LB Waltham Forest is working on in parallel, to realise the potential of the Lee Valley edge of the Borough as a major growth zone. Lea Bridge Gateway consists of four areas of Strategic Industrial Land (SIL), centred around the crossroads of Lea Bridge Road and Argall Way/Orient Way, and the overall vision for the area is to create a vibrant local centre around Lea Bridge Station, with a modernised and intensified industrial quarter working alongside a mix of other uses, and with improved public realm and infrastructure, taking advantage of Lee Valley’s heritage and landscape qualities.
We carried out a baseline study to collect data and establish existing parameters, conditions and quality of the sites and public space within the SIL area. The second stage of work, the SIL Vision Framework, underpinned by zoning, viability and placemaking analysis within each sub-area, set out the strategies to support the continuing regeneration of Lea Bridge, by intensifying use of Industrial land to deliver more employment floorspace, improving connectivity and greening, and successfully introducing other non-industrial uses in key locations.
The conclusion of this iterative analysis was that the two sub-areas where change was likely to be focussed were Rigg Approach and Lammas Road. The SIL Vision provides the borough with a strategic approach as to how the sites within these areas may be developed, within a flexible framework that allows for landowners to bring forwards plots for development individually or within groups.
