Second Opinion - West Norwood, south-east London

Paul Reynolds, Regeneration & Renewal, 22 August 2008

Scope/purpose: To set out plans for the comprehensive regeneration of West Norwood town centre in south-east London.

Paul Reynolds comments: At the heart of the West Norwood study area is St Luke's Church. A key local landmark, this listed building was one of the so-called 'Waterloo churches', which were built with money donated to the country by the Government to celebrate victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Today it is much harder to get money from the Government, and masterplans such as this must seek to deliver regeneration for areas on the back of private finance and investment alone. However, there are some points of continuity between the churches and the current proposals. The Waterloo churches were built as cheaply as possible in order to deliver as many as possible, and they had to offer half the seats in each church to "the poor" for no cost - it was a bit like today's affordable home quotas.

As one would expect, this report includes housing delivery in an attempt to diversify land uses in the town centre and create a more mixed-use environment, and notes that poor accessibility to existing housing estates could be alleviated with improved public transport. While building homes above shops, cafes and bars in a town centre can lead to conflicts over noise, I strongly believe that this technique is one of the most effective ways of bringing vibrancy to a place.

The amount of housing proposed varies in the three options presented: minimal intervention, intensification and expansion. Options in masterplans are worth looking at, but in my experience nobody ever chooses just one option - they opt for bits of each. The requirement to provide options as part of the statutory process is artificial: in some cases it forces design teams to come up with unrealistic ideas rather than push for a single viable and achievable solution.

The plan's 'emerging thinking' section is where the most useful information is held. Much of the rest of the document contains background technical data and sustainability information that is essential, but tells us little about what the place would really be like. And the absence of sketches or photomontages is unfortunate, making it difficult to imagine how the plans will change the look of the town centre. One of my favourite parts of the document is the collection of case studies in the appendix. As well as the usual suspects, it also features places such as Crouch End and Clapham High Street. It makes a refreshing change to see some of London's most vibrant places - which are often overlooked in this type of study - highlighted for their many great features.

In summary, there is some good stuff here, but I'm left with a feeling that this document recalls those Waterloo Churches: made of cheap materials with a bit of quality around the edges to try to make it look classy. I hope that the final option, whatever it may be, will have more conviction.

- Paul Reynolds is principal urban designer with Atkins.