Master plan

Five years ago, London mayor Ken Livingstone referred to plans for the Brent Cross redevelopment as “pretty unimaginative crap”.But this week, as the first images of London’s biggest redevelopment project ever are unveiled at MIPIM, the developers behind the proposed £4bn revamp of Brent Cross and Cricklewood can be hopeful of a much more positive reaction. “Ken actually called it ‘pretty good crap’,” bridles Jonathan Joseph, development director for Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners, the group of three landowners – Hammerson, Standard Life and Multiplex – behind the proposals. “And he made that comment before we had even presented him with our proposals. We’ve been working with his office for the past six years and have no doubt that he’s in favour of them.” In October, the commercial landowners Standard Life and Hammerson, the joint owners of London’s 844,000 sq ft Brent Cross Shopping Centre, and Multiplex and Hammerson, joint owners of the adjacent 133-acre site on former railway land between the North Circular and Cricklewood railway station, announced plans for a 250-acre mega-scheme encompassing the whole area. And, as a first period of public consultation draws to a close, the three have declared that they intend to submit a planning application this summer produced by the scheme’s original masterplanner, Allies & Morrison. The developers’ claim that this 20-year project is the largest-ever planning application in the UK is a slight exaggeration if you consider the site is only 250 acres, compared with the 600-acre Olympics site in east London. However Brent Cross Cricklewood will comprise a massive 14m sq ft. It will, in fact, be larger than Stratford City (180 acres), Greenwich Peninsular (130 acres) and Paddington Waterside (80 acres). Andy Macdonald, managing director of regeneration at Multiplex, the lead developer on the Cricklewood side of the scheme, sits with Joseph at an enormous boardroom table pointing to drawings on A1 sized cardboard maps in an attempt to explain their behemoth of a scheme. Transport improvements The first thing to be done is to improve transport to the area so much that it will be able to support an additional 7,500 homes, 4m sq ft of offices, a 590,000 sq ft extension to Brent Cross Shopping Centre and a new High Street. At the moment, the massive area comprises the existing Brent Cross Shopping Centre, an enormous parcel of railway land located between the main railway line and Edgeware Road, the Clitterhouse playing fields as well as a number of warehouses, schools and council houses. Planned improvements to the Midland mainline service mean that the journey time from central London to Cricklewood station will be shortened from 20 to 12 minutes, prompting hopes that the redevelopment can be rebranded as London’s next Paddington. Macdonald says: “It’s not an established office location but when you take into account the improved infrastructure – which will be second to none – it will have all the elements required to be a stunning decentralised office location. “As far as tenants are concerned, the sky’s the limit,” he adds. “They could be admin back offices, pharmaceuticals, insurance, law firms. Even now, Holborn is only 20 minutes away on the Thameslink and within easy reach. Certainly, our customer-flow models have shown that people will come to the scheme from all over London. It’s going to be a great area and allow people to work, live and play in a new integrated model.” Certainly, Multiplex, Hammerson and Standard Life are putting their money on Brent Cross Cricklewood becoming the next major London office district in 10 years as well as improving the shopping and leisure element in order to allow it to compete with the likes of White City and Bluewater. “We also think the timing is significant,” says Joseph. “Office developments are proposed in west, east and south London but there’s very little in the north. And this will be a catchment area for both north London and areas north of London. “The office element will only come online in phases five, six and seven – meaning between around 2018 and 2020, when we will already have much of the housing and retail built,” he says. “We think Brent Cross will then compare with Paddington.” To do this and to gain critical mass, the developers plan to build some office blocks as tall as the Stock Exchange tower in the City. “The tallest parts of the scheme will be as high as 100m and at least 25 storeys,” says Macdonald. “It’s a prominent gateway to London adjacent to major infrastructure which creates a natural opportunity for a landmark building.” But in order to convert the affluent and leafy suburbs of Cricklewood, the setting of The Goodies and home of Ken Livingstone, into the next Paddington, Joseph and Macdonald admit they will have a tough job. For a start, although the masterplan is being marketed as one of London’s largest regenerations, the developers themselves are being forced to pay for all of the transport infrastructure improvements apart from the Midland mainline upgrade. The developers will have to upgrade the existing Cricklewood railway station so that it can accommodate the required dozen new 12-car trains as well as improving Brent Cross tube station and connecting it to the proposed new High Street and enlarged shopping centre. The companies will also have to improve the roads between the currently disjointed and historically separate parts of the area. “Greenwich had the Jubilee line extension, King’s Cross is benefiting from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and Stratford will benefit from the millions of pounds of state funding being pumped into the Olympics,” says Joseph. “Our scheme, uniquely, will be 100% developer-financed.” Major infrastructure works The developers point out that the application has had to be one of the most complicated ever, because of the scheme’s size. It has to cover the complications of a possible CPO of around 40 small landowners bridge, road and rail construction a diversion to the river Brent the rebuilding of several schools and council estates and the relocation and improvement of a waste handling plant (see panel right). To date, they have already spent in excess of £20m on the scheme. Moreover, the developers have gone through one costly public consultation and are about to enter another. In an attempt to communicate with the local community, they have set up what they call the Brent Cross Messenger – a caravan which is usually parked somewhere on the massive site, and which contains details of the plan and tries to answer local residents’ concerns. “Every time new schemes go through the planning process they raise the bar on inclusiveness and comprehensiveness,” says Joseph. “As the latest big scheme, we have included new standards in terms of sustainability. This scheme really does tick all of the boxes,” he says. In an attempt to fulfil the government’s ever stricter environmental requirements, the three developers are attempting to make the entire Brent Cross Cricklewood scheme carbon neutral. A new waste-handling plant will turn non-recyclable waste into a gas that will provide enough energy to power all 8,000 planned homes on the scheme and all of the commercial space too. The scheme will also collect rainwater for re-use. These measures are intended to drive forward regeneration in an area which, although thought of as wealthy, is next to three wards that are among the poorest in the UK – Childs Hill, West Hendon and Burnt Oak. One key proposal is the formation of a management company to keep the whole scheme running smoothly once it has been built. Multiplex says that not only will the company look after day-to-day running and maintenance of the buildings, but it will also handle services such as job creation and training. Citing experience of this from other projects, namely the one-stop-shop Multiplex set up to work on the long-delayed Wembley stadium, it is funding work to put systems in place to train people for the 25,000-30,000 jobs likely to be created by the scheme. The developers say this forms a “significant” part of the section 106 and section 278 requirements, which run to around £500m. Cricklewood gets a makeover BUILDING OUT IN PHASES TO END WITH offices Brent Cross Cricklewood Development Partners’ masterplan for the 250-acre site include the relocation of Cricklewood railway station and massive changes to the road network connecting the M1 and the North Circular. The 20-year development plan for the 250-acre site will be divided into seven phases. These will require a staggering 61 separate works, the highlights of which will include: PHASE 1: 2009-2012 The first 1,350 homes New stores at the shopping centre Multiplex cinema and hotel built Construction of the combined heat and power plant New bridge over the A406, to replace Tempelhof Bridge and junction works Creation of both Market Square and Brent Cross Main Square and new shops PHASE 2: 2011-2013 1,750 homes Completion of the new High Street M1 and Staples Corner junction works, new junction from A41 and pedestrian bridge River Brent realignment and creation of the River Brent Corridor Rebuild Whitefield Secondary School and Mapledown Special Needs School Replacement of Hendon Leisure Centre Improvements to Brent Cross Underground Station and Cricklewood station and bus station PHASE 3: 2012-2015 2,200 homes, including 850 to the West of Brent Cross Shopping Centre Completion of River Brent works including the River Brent Nature Park New private hospital PHASE 4: 2015-2018 500 homes Track enabling works to prepare for new train station and creation of the new Rail Freight Facility PHASE 5: 2017-2021 First new offices within the commercial district Final 1,750 homes Creation of Brent Terrace Park and the Railway Lands Nature Park PHASE 6: 2019-2023 Creation of Tower Square, within the commercial district Significant office development close to the new train station Creation of Northern Nature Park New road layout into the commercial district PHASE 7: 2021-2026 Creation of final Public Square – Station Quarter Square Final phase of offices, on the site of the current Brent Cross Retail Park Completion of all infrastructure works