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More London
More London
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Courtesy of More London Development Ltd. Photographer: Andrew Rafferty

THE PROJECT:
More London
 
THE CLIENT:
More London Development Ltd
 
ARCHITECT:
Foster and Partners
 
COMPLETION DATE:
Phased 2005-7
 
Developer: More London Development www.morelondon.com
Contractors: MACE ( GLA and overall site infrastructure)
Sir Robert McAlpine /MACE Joint Venture (Building 1)
HBG Construction (Building 6)
Architects: Foster and Partners www.fosterandpartners.com
Structural and Civil Engineering ARUP
Building Services: ARUP (GLA and Infrastructure)
Roger Preston and Partners (Buildings 1 and 6)
Landscape Architect Robert Townshend
Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon and Everest (GLA and Infrastructure)
EC Harris ( Buildings 1,6 and Section 106 Works)
Mott Green and Wall ( Building Services)
Lighting: Equation Lighting Design
Planning Consultant: Montagu Evans
Public liaison: URBED (Urban and Economic Development Group) www.urbed.com
Pool of London Partnership (information on the local area): www.pooloflondon.co.uk
Architect
  Foster and Partners
Client
  More London Development Ltd
 

 
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
--------------------------
The More London development is 13.5 acres (5.5 hectares) of prime development land in the increasingly popular area of north Southwark between The Thames Path to the north and Tooley Street to the south, and stretching from Hay's Galleria east to Tower Bridge. The development includes the offices of the Greater London Authority - City Hall - and is commercial, with some retail, residential, restaurants, a hotel, and a leisure centre, and will be the home of the Unicorn Children's Centre. Construction began in 2000 and is being phased over 5-7 years. City Hall was the first building to be completed and was occupied in the summer of 2002.

METHOD
---------
The developers' aim was to be a 'good neighbour', and in designing the masterplan and through construction phases their approach was to consult and inform, and to be accessible and transparent. Their methods included:

  • Carrying out an extensive consultation on the masterplan that had a significant impact.
  • Setting up an information line and a public liaison arm to answer questions, organize contact with local stakeholders, information on construction phases etc
  • Publishing a quarterly newsletter and developing a mailing list of local residents, businesses and other interested parties.
  • Providing information about the development on the hoardings on major public thoroughfares. Using the hoardings to display art work by local schoolchildren.
  • Designing a comprehensive website, with extensive use of webcams for a period of time, and developing an archive of images following the construction history
  • Constructing a marketing suite on site that acts as a viewing area where local stakeholders as well as potential clients are invited to receptions and presentations about the site, with models and AV.
  • Organising tours of the site for local businesses and concerns, including local councillors.
  • Devising projects for local schools and visits/information pack for architecture/design students.
  • Taking part in innovative S106 advisory meetings where the local council are brought together with stakeholders, including resident representatives and local partnerships, to discuss and monitor the progress of the community gain projects (outside those managed by the developers). The meetings also provide the developers with the chance to report back on the projects they are managing.

BENEFIT
---------
The clients listed the benefits as including a swifter planning approval process, building and maintaining goodwill with a wide range of stakeholders, and engaging local young people in the development of the site.

Overall complaints were probably kept to a minimum, since people were notified in advance about noisy/dirty construction. The information line meant that if people called up with specific issues, e.g. mud on road this could be immediately fed back to the contractors and acted on very quickly.

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