Wellesley Road and Park Lane, Croydon International Urban Design Competition Invitation for Expression of Interest
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k u . o c . y t i c d r i h t n o d y o r c Wellesley Road and Park Lane, Croydon . International Urban Design Competition w w Invitation for Expression of Interest w The butterfly on the cover: The Common Blue can be found in substantial numbers in Happy Valley , one of Croydon’s premier green spaces, which has recently received a Green Flag award for its management. The butterfly is also commonly used as a symbol of transformation or metamorphosis, often from ugly to beautiful. Wellesley Road and Park Lane, Croydon Phase 1 of the Third City transformation Introduction 01 Negotiated Procedure - Outline 23 The Vision 04 ITN Requirements 23 Space for Change 04 ITN Evaluation Criteria 23 Croydon, London’s Third City 05 Appointment 23 Wellesley Road and Park Lane 08 Conditions 25 The Project 09 Information 25 The Ideas 09 Confidentiality 25 Opportunities and Constraints 12 Freedom of Information 25 Procurement 25 The Competition 17 Bonds and Guarantees 26 Timetable 18 Rejection of Submission 26 The Assessors and Advisory Panel 19 STAGE 1 - Outline 20 Recommended References 27 STAGE 2 - Outline 22 Introduction It is about building upon a strong local identity to create place which contains all that is needed for urban life; a place in which people can live, work and relax. Wellesley Road and Park Lane are the spine of central Croydon but they currently split the town centre in two. Removing this obstacle will bring about much needed improvements in aesthetic and functional qualities of this space, help to attract new investment and a wider range of uses. The project is led by the London Borough of Croydon in partnership with Design for London, Councillor Tim Pollard the London Development Agency and Transport Deputy Leader (Performance Management) for London. The Mayor has indicated his support & Cabinet Member for Regeneration for the creation of an attractive public space that We are inviting you to join us in making our Third promotes economic development in Croydon. We City vision a reality. The Wellesley Road and Park are working closely with Design for London (his Lane project requires a forward looking, world architecture and urban design team) to achieve class team. They will create a scheme which will this. This will be a highly visible manifestation of be a real milestone in transforming, improving and the Borough’s ambitions to regenerate central regenerating the public realm of Croydon. Croydon to create a hub of metropolitan life. We Third City is the result of Architect Will Alsop’s expect the designers to formulate a creative and work with the local community in Croydon. It inspired solution to transform Wellesley Road from imagines how Croydon could be in twenty years the main road through Croydon into its vibrant and time. Becoming a city in London (alongside friendly centre. Westminster and the City of London) isn’t about size of population or prestige for local politicians. 01 Following a pre-qualification stage, up to 4 design practices will be invited to submit design concepts for the regeneration of Wellesley Road and Park lane. These design concepts shall be judged by a jury made up of representatives of the London Borough of Croydon, the Mayor of London and leading design professionals who will select a minimum of two winning designs. The winning design practices will be invited to take part in a competitive procedure (under the negotiated procedure) with the aim of appointing a preferred bidder to enter into a contract with the London Borough of Croydon to develop the complete regeneration solution for Wellesley Road and Park Lane. The appointed design practice will need to work with partner organisations and local residents to produce detailed proposals. These proposals will be part of a bigger regeneration agenda in central Croydon, complementing the technical masterplan for Croydon Metropolitan Centre which is emerging as part of our Area Action Plan. Tim Pollard Bird’s eye view of Wellesley Road and Park Lane 02 The Third City Vision by SMC Alsop (2007) 03 The Vision Space for Change With population of 350 000 Croydon is one of the “Mists and mellow fruitfulness can try their best, but biggest towns in Europe. If it were a city, it would be autumn does little to soften the concrete heart of the 12th largest in Britain. In the years after World Croydon. Big, brash, and loudly commercial War Two, Croydon was transformed from a market Croydon is the ambitious south London town that town on London’s outskirts into a twentieth century wants to be a city. It rises aggressively out of a ‘edge city’. Britain’s sixth biggest office centre. In morass of suburbs, a rude vision of Harold Sir Nikolaus Pevsner’ s view, the prospect of this Macmillan’s “You’ve never had it so good Britain “most consistently modern-looking area in the whole made real in the guise of bland broad shouldered of England” is “thrilling from a distance and from the office blocks and fast wide roads. Downtown air, rather like a chunk of Johannesburg”- even Croydon is perhaps closer in spirit to a junior league though his closer examination revealed a lack of city in the US than to sibling settlements elsewhere major planning and few buildings of individual in the south of England. Defying conventional architectural merit. Croydon has also been definition, Croydon is like nowhere else.” variously described as a ‘mini Manhattan’, an Jonathan Glancey ‘English Alphaville’ and ‘New York in Eastern “It was my nemesis, I hated Croydon with a real Europe’. Croydon is a rare phenomenon in Britain, vengeance… it represented everything I didn’t want a potential landscape for architectural intervention, a in my life, everything I wanted to get away from.” contemporary cosmopolitan city waiting to happen. David Bowie “Certainly not a place where I’d spend my holidays, let alone my weekends.” Richard Rogers “There’s a feeling of the edge city blues... there’s no ‘there’ there.” Charles Jencks “Croydon is a place that induces a sense of vertigo in architects. Even the most self-assured find themselves confronting their own helplessness here. Looking into an abyss in which their values are meaningless and irrelevant.” Deyan Sudjic 04 Croydon, London’s Third City The Wellesley Road and Park Lane project forms In 1998, the London Borough of Croydon produced part of a wider vision to regenerate Croydon’s the “Vision 2020” strategy which promoted a new Metropolitan Centre. design era for central Croydon. This strategy is now being updated as a requirement of the new planning Croydon Metropolitan Centre is identified in the system by the preparation of a new spatial plan for London Plan as an “opportunity area” for providing the centre called the Croydon Metropolitan Centre more employment and several thousand new Area Action Plan. The London Borough of Croydon homes. It is also the preferred location for new retail commissioned Will Alsop to re-examine Vision 2020 development and other facilities and services aimed in light of the requirement to produce a new plan. at serving a wide area of south London. The The updated vision identifies the need to market London Plan states that to facilitate this a new Croydon, to channel investment and to emphasise development framework should be drawn up for the design quality in order to differentiate Croydon from centre. This is therefore a high priority for the other towns with similar regeneration agendas. This Council. The proposed Area Action Plan will provide includes the idea of redesigning Wellesley Road and the long-term planning framework for development Park Lane to create a new attractive public space. and change in the centre, ensuring its growth These ideas now inform the emerging technical through investment. It will facilitate the delivery of a masterplan for Croydon Metropolitan Centre. well-managed, mixed use urban hub, serving the Consultation for this with the local community, both borough and the wider south London developers and business representatives has sub-region. confirmed the desire for changes to Wellesley Road, Park Lane and adjacent areas. 05 TO GLASGOW, LIVERPOOL, BIRMINGHAM TO EDINBURGH, NEWCASTLE TO LUTON TO STANSTED AIRPORT AIRPORT CITY AIRPORT TO CARDIFF BRISTOL HEATHROW AIRPORT Lewisham Brixton Beckenham Wimbledon Junction TO EUROTUNNEL, CHANNEL CROSSINGS Kingston Bromley Morden New Addington TO GUILDFORD Sutton Croydon PORTSMOUTH TO MAIDSTONE, DOVER, ENGLISH CHANNEL CROSSINGS opportunities zone as indicated in London Plan metropolitan centres TO GATWICK AIRPORT Croydon Metropolitan Centre BRIGHTON London Underground River Thames international centre airport major railways interchange node motorway tram network Docklands Light Railway Borough boundaries interchange node Croydon in London. Key transportation links and strategic elements of London Plan. 06 The Third City Plan by SMC Alsop (2007) 07 Wellesley Road and Park Lane This project will be an integral part of the Centre’s of the highest quality, turning this through route into improved network of public spaces. Wellesley Road an attractive, vibrant and people friendly space that and Park Lane currently make up an urban is full of activity. This redesigned urban landscape motorway dominated by a 1960’s underpass and will help to knit together parts of the town centre that subways. It cuts the heart of the town in two are currently broken apart. The project requires a forming a north-south physical barrier to easy forward looking, world class design which will be a movement. Whilst the scale of the buildings and the visible manifestation of London Borough of space between creates drama, pedestrians and Croydon ’s ambition to become London’s public transport are pushed to the edges. The ‘Third City’.