Information Pack November 2020
The Royal Foundation of St Katharine and their development partners have been working on plans to bring forward development of the ‘Northern Site’. The Northern Site is located between the DLR viaduct and the Foundation’s main building on Butcher Row. 2 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Where we are today
The Foundation has roots in the East End of London going back to the 1140s and we are now reviewing our future. We want to be more ambitious and continue to strengthen our charitable activities in the neighbourhood.
The first step on this journey was the opening of St Katharine’s Precinct. ‘The Precinct’ is the meanwhile project on site today, comprising Yurts, shipping containers and a kitchen garden. The purpose of the Precinct project was to understand how the Foundation could expand further to cater to a wider community. These meanwhile uses have become extremely important to the community; we want to provide a permanent home for these uses and expand the Foundation’s local offering.
During 2018, we shared design proposals in a series of public and one-to-one events with the community and Precinct user groups. Taking on board lessons learnt from operating the Precinct and the feedback received over 2018, the design team has since finalised the proposals. We are pleased to be able to share these proposals with you ahead of our upcoming planning application. 3 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Our Proposals
Our proposals are:
• A community café, meeting & event space and subsidised incubator workspace • New rooms and conference space for the Royal Foundation of St Katharine’s retreat centre • New pedestrian route and a new landscaped courtyard • 115 new homes for Limehouse and Shadwell – including new affordable and family homes
We are excited to update the community on our plans and explain how they have developed in response to previous feedback. We welcome your views on the changes we have made, which you can share with us by completing the feedback survey on the website:
www.stkatharinesprecinct.co.uk Sketch of the ground floor 4 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Key Benefits
The benefits of the proposals for the redevelopment of The Northern Site include:
A permanent home for An improved offer for the Growth in Limehouse and Improved public space the Precinct Foundation Shadwell
Expanded hospitality Increased footfall, and retreat facilities An improved A permanent home for resulting in more to safeguard the pedestrian experience the Yurt Café; spending at local Foundation facilities for on Butcher Row; businesses; future generations; A new place to meet New high quality A new permanent people in the new architecture to enhance public route A new front door for landscaped and connecting the DLR the neigbourhood; the Foundation; greened public route; station with Butcher Row and beyond; A new publicly New permanent jobs Safeguarding the accessible courtyard for Limehouse and Foundation’s existing for Limehouse and Shadwell; A permanent Shadwell, community space; hospitality/retreat where facilities; residents can enjoy a New jobs and tranquil and relaxed apprenticeships for young people New subsidised atmosphere; during incubator workspace the construction phase; for 28 people, helping small local businesses, start-ups and social New homes for enterprises grow; Limehouse and Shadwell. 5 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Royal Foundation of St Katharine
The Royal Foundation of St Katharine (RFSK) was founded in 1147 by Queen Matilda and has served as a centre for worship, hospitality and service ever since. One of England’s oldest and longest-running charitable organisations, the Foundation returned to East London 75 years ago.
The Foundation serves as an extraordinary urban oasis in the heart of London, serving as a remarkable place of peace and tranquillity in the busyness of London life. Our facilities welcome a vast array of groups from across all backgrounds, faiths and professions, hosting over 1000 events a year at a subsidised rate for some of the leading charities and not-for profit organisations.
Alongside this, we provide overnight hospitality and conference facilities for a range of groups, businesses and individuals.
Our local community work is centred on our Yurt community café that provides a great meeting and work place for many independent creatives. A food bank, community garden, musicians practice room and business incubator space forms part of our Foundation life and this is what we especially want to develop in the coming years through our proposals for St Katharine’s Precinct. 6 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack October 2020
Development Partners
Acorn Property Group
Acorn are an independent development and regeneration company with substantial experience of delivering new buildings and public spaces. Acorn are working in collaboration with the Royal Foundation of St Katharine to bring forward these plans. They have strong experience of working in sensitive contexts, having completed a number of award-winning developments in Southwark. Most recently, they have completed a development for the Corporation of Trinity House alongside the Grade II listed Trinity Church Square and the Grade II listed London Session House in Borough SE1.
Matthew Lloyd Architects
Matthew Lloyd Architects (MLA) are the architects bringing forward the design of the new buildings. MLA are known for sensitive and contextual architecture. With a breadth of experience across East London, including the delivery of an extension to the existing building and the current meanwhile uses for the Precinct, MLA have an unrivalled understanding of the local area.
Kanda Consulting
Kanda are specialists in working with community organisations, businesses and residents to ensure they have the opportunity to offer meaningful, early input into local developments.
Matthew Lloyd Architects previous work 7 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
The Site
The ‘Northern Site’ is located on land due
north of the Royal Foundation of St Katharine, RATCLIFFE CROSS ST immediately west of Limehouse Station. This land LIMEHOUSE BOULCOTT ST is owned and maintained by the Foundation and COMMERCIAL RD has been unused for decades.
The land now hosts ‘St Katharine’s Precinct’, a ‘meanwhile project’ established by the RATCLIFFE LN Foundation to understand how it could expand its offering and strengthen its connections with the neighbourhood.
THE SITE Built in 2016, the Precinct hosts a range of ST KATHARINE’S neighbourhood facilities, including the popular PRECINCT Yurt Café and several shipping containers. Together these provide spaces for activities that have successfully brought the local community
and a diverse range of user groups together. BUTCHER ROW BEKESBOURNE ST
CABLE ST ROYAL FOUNDATION OF ST KATHARINE Our neighbours
ST. JAMES GARDENS Our immediate neighbours include residential blocks to the east; the DLR viaduct and its ROTHERHITHE TUNNEL servicing lane to the north; Butcher Row, a commercial street hosting local businesses, offices and industrial space, to the west; and St James Gardens to the south. LIMEHOUSE LINK TUNNEL 8 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Planning Context
Tower Hamlets Council has set out ambitions for Limehouse in its Local Plan, which include a focus on delivering new shops, commercial and civic spaces in the area.
The site falls within the area covered by the Limehouse Neighbourhood Plan, which is being developed by the Limehouse Community Forum in consultation with local residents and sets out key priorities for local developments, including:
Creating open and green spaces Private and affordable housing
Establishing services and Providing a mix of retail, facilities to accommodate the commercial, civic and other ongoing regeneration of the area employment uses
Part of the site lies within the boundary of the York Square Conservation Area. The Master’s House and the RFSK chapel, to the south of the site, are both statutory listed. 9 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
St Katharine’s Precinct
What is St Katharine’s Precinct?
The Northern Site now hosts ‘St Katharine’s Precinct’, a ‘meanwhile project’ established by the Foundation to understand how it could expand its offering and strengthen its connections with the neighbourhood.
The current Precinct includes a variety of uses, all managed by the Foundation, including:
• The Yurt Café; • Converted shipping containers for use by local creatives and other community groups.
The facilities have proved extremely popular with the local community and the experience has provided the Foundation with valuable learning. In particular, the Foundation has made important connections with local community groups and initiatives.
The Foundation has used the lessons learned from this experience to inform new spaces that will provide a new permanent home for the Precinct. This will result in spaces that serve as a long-term home for community groups and that expand the Foundation’s offering, whilst providing new space for the community.
All the work that the staff at the Precinct have achieved over the last four years will be continued in a new permanent home for this initiative, serving the community for the years to come. The following pages detail how we will do so. 10 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Responding to Covid-19
Recently, the Precinct has adapted to the unique and difficult circumstances of Covid-19. One of the containers has hosted a food bank and food delivery service for those in the neighbourhood who were sheltering. Local volunteers, working with RFSK, have used the space to support the community. This This highlights the capacity of the includes Limehouse Aid, a mutual aid and distribution network. Precinct, and the Foundation more broadly, to be able to adapt to the needs The Yurt Café was temporarily transformed into a takeaway service and convenience store, continuing to of the local community. The permanent serve new and regular customers. home for the Precinct will secure this in the future and ensure it is a community Since restrictions have eased, normal operations have thankfully resumed, taking the now familiar resource for many years. precautions. The Café took part in the Government-sponsored ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme and continues to offer good value meals, as well as developing a new evening dining service to provide more opportunities for people to connect. 11 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Consultation process
In 2018 we shared the development proposals with the community, as well as Tower Hamlets, the GLA and key statutory stakeholders.
We have been working since 2018 to update the designs, taking into account the feedback we received to progress the designs for the site and to develop a proposal to show how the Precinct will continue to operate during the construction phase.
Timeline of community engagement:
Final proposals and details Review of feedback Review of feedback of the ‘Interim space' shared received during the received during initial with the community, Tower initial consultation consultation Hamlets and the GLA
August - July November December 2019/ December October 2018 2018 2018 2020 2020 2018
Initial community Further community Scheme consultation & consultation & development in engagement with engagement with response to feedback local groups on early local groups on more and securing a proposals advanced proposals temporary home for the Precinct 12 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Responding to feedback
The proposals we have shared respond to feedback from the community, with a number of changes made to ensure the proposals complement and enhance this part of Limehouse and Shadwell.
The key changes include:
Formulating a proposal showing how an interim space will Relocating the incubator workspace so that it continue its activities throughout the construction phase; overlooks the new quiet public route;
Including a community room, which will be accessible Refining the external materials and detailing; to all of the new residents – encouraging greater interaction within this new community;
Providing access to roof gardens for all new Replacing the hostel bedsits with additional homes, residents, so that they can have a choice of outdoor including more affordable homes. space; 13 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Our Proposals N N
GREEN SPACES
NEW CONNECTIONS
Our proposals include: N N N FLEXIBLE New route connecting Butcher COMMUNITY SPACE Row to Limehouse Station WORKSPACE A permanent home for the Precinct and Yurt Café NEW HOMES Incubator workspace for up to 28 people COMMUNITY CAFÉ New green spaces
115 new homes, including GREEN SPACES aff ordable housing
Flexible community space
Expanded hospitality off ering, off ering subsided stays and conferences for the charity sector NEW HOMES
RFSK HOSPITALITY SPACE
RFSK CONFERENCE SPACE 14 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
New homes
The proposals will provide 115 high-quality new homes in a range of sizes, including a significant proportion of family homes. There will also be a mix of tenures, including affordable housing to address the significant need in Tower Hamlets.
All new residents will have access to high quality outdoor space, including a large playspace, roof gardens and a landscaped garden.
These new residents will also all have access to a new, shared community room, encouraging interaction between residents.
Indicative view from the Limehouse Station 15 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Community café
The updated proposals for the Precinct will provide new, permanent and expanded space for the temporary structures currently hosted on the site, building upon the success of these existing spaces and making their unique benefits available to even more local residents and groups.
A community café will be provided as a permanent home for the Yurt Café and the work it has undertaken to date. As well as providing an updated local food and drink offer, the new café will host a wide range of community events in a warm, peaceful and welcoming environment, which while not beneath the Yurt’s canvas, will reflect the in a similar spirit to the existing Yurt Café.
We want to capture the spirit and homeliness of the existing Yurt Café in the design of the new space and we look forward to working with the local community to discuss how this space may look and feel.
Plan of the community café 16 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
New community and meeting space
The community and meeting space adjacent to the café will be a flexible space, providing a long-term facility for local users and user groups.
This will have capacity to host hundreds of events a year, catering for a diverse range of existing and new local activities and allowing community groups and initiatives to form and grow, with support from the Foundation.
We want to make sure this space can serve existing user groups enjoying the Precinct but also accommodate new users from across Limehouse, Shadwell and beyond.
We would welcome any thoughts you may have about groups who may be interested in using the space as well as what we can do to accommodate their needs. This will inform a continued dialogue with the community as we continue to develop the space further throughout the planning process. Plan of the community café 17 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Incubator workspace
The proposals will provide 1,400sqft of affordable, subsidised incubator workspace, which will be able to accommodate up to 28 workstations.
The workspace has been designed to accommodate small businesses and start-ups and will be targeted at organisations such as charities and social enterprises. It will provide a space for these organisations to grow and share ideas with other businesses – guided by the stewardship of the Foundation.
In addition to the subsidised work and collaboration space, the incubator space will provide opportunities for professional development, for instance via skills training and mentoring programmes.
Plan of the workspace 18 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
New outdoor space
We have identified opportunities to significantly improve local public spaces and connections for residents, visitors and workers alike to enjoy.
New pedestrian links
In place of the existing uninviting frontage on Butcher Row, the proposals will create a new east-west link to the DLR station, with the landscaped street becoming a place for local people to spend time, as well as serving as a safer, permanent and more direct public route to the station open 24 hours a day.
Indicative view of the new pedestrian route 19 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
New outdoor space
New courtyard
Meanwhile, residents and visitors will be able to relax in the quadrangle, a new, landscaped and open publicly accessible space designed for quiet, rest and contemplation. The quadrangle will create a new front door to the Foundation.
Landscaping
High-quality landscaping and greening across the site will make the Precinct a new attractive place in which to relax and spend time, building upon the success of the existing outdoor activities on the site and attracting more visitors and local residents to Foundation and Precinct.
Indicative view of the new courtyard 20 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
An expanded offer for the Foundation
The provision of spaces for quiet contemplation, retreat and spiritual growth is at the heart of the Foundation’s mission and the updated proposals for the Precinct will be key to allowing the Foundation to expand our offer and deliver benefits and opportunities to a greater number of people.
Hospitality accommodation
The proposals include an additional 25 bedrooms, which will allow us to expand our current operations.
Conference space
The updated proposals for the Precinct will provide two new conference rooms, improving spaces for learning and reflection on-site.
An increase in visitor numbers will expand the Foundation’s reach; create new jobs at the Foundation; and allow it to provide support to more people than ever before, across the whole range of its activities and programmes. Example images of the look and feel of the space 21 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
The proposed transition
From the outset, we have been committed to ensuring that our Precinct users have a home during the construction process so that their activities and enjoyment of the café is not interrupted. This was identified as a priority by those we spoke to at our previous consultation events.
Recognising this feedback, we have leased the neighbouring John Scurr Centre from Tower Hamlets Council and will be creating an ‘Interim Space’ in this space. This will ensure that our current users can move seamlessly into their new home and continue the great work they do for the community locally and in Tower Hamlets.
The ‘Interim space’ will house the Yurt Café and community uses, who will benefit from the attractive external areas for seating and gardening, with a new connection to St James’s Example images of the look and feel of the space Gardens.
The 'interim space' will provide continuity which the local community can engage with The design team are working on a vision for this space that recreates the informal and demonstrate how the new space will be atmosphere and homeliness of the Yurt. Examples of the look and feel we are seeking to operated. This means new connections can be achieve are indicated in the images above and we’d welcome your thoughts on what else formed ahead of the formal opening of the new is important to you in the design of this space. Please visit our feedback survey Precinct. http://stkatharinesprecinct.co.uk/feedback/ to share your thoughts. 22 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020
Thank you
Thank you for reading about our proposals for St Katharine’s Precinct – we hope you found the information helpful. We welcome your views on the final proposal and encourage you to share feedback on how we can deliver the ‘Interim space'. You can do so by visiting the website and completing the survey there. Next steps
We will be sharing your views of the proposal with Tower Hamlets in the forthcoming planning application.
Your feedback on the ‘Interim space' will be considered and reviewed by the design team as we finalise the proposals for how the John Scur Community Centre will be refurbished ahead of construction on the Northern Site.
The planning application will be submitted shortly. Please sign up to the project mailing list via the website to receive updates on the project.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the project team on the details below.
[email protected] 020 3900 3676 www.stkatharinesprecinct.co.uk 23 St Katharine’s Precinct | Information Pack November 2020