In a close collaborative effort with the client team, The London Borough of Hackney, The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, local residents and the GLA, Spacehub have worked intensively through 2018 and 2019 to develop the revised proposals for The Goodsyard.

Originally established as a passenger station in 1840 the site has remained derelict since it was destroyed in a fire in 1964.

This redevelopment features one of the most ambitious new pieces of public realm in London, delivering a total of 2.5 hectares of public realm, and establishing a 400-metre connection between the city fringe and Brick Lane at both ground and platform levels. The proposal is to create a rich multi-layered landscape which evolves ‘From the Ground Up’, with layers conceived as a transitional experience from city to wilderness. The fast space at ground level transforms to a slow space at park level connected via seven theatrical stairways and lifts.

At ground level, ‘The Shoreditch Tapestry’ will offer a robust public realm that creates new connections and celebrates the historical and cultural layers of the site and its context. Two primary streets, running north-south and east-west through the site, link to the surrounding streets of Bethnal Green Road, Quaker Street and Shoreditch High Street.

At platform level, ‘The Platform Gardens’ is a green oasis in contrast to the bustling urban realm below. ‘The Banks’ form a linear route from East to West, derived from the historic Goods Yard arrangement of platforms. ‘The Gardens’ are smaller scaled spaces between the platform buildings, each with their own unique character and identity. ‘The Balconies’ mark the western and eastern ends, announcing the platform landscape to the wider context. ‘The Field’ is a large, consolidated area of open space to the east, with a flexible lawn area and a woodland play garden.

At roof level, a series of residential amenity gardens, office amenity terraces, and biodiverse roofs are conceived as an integrated extension of the platform landscape. Their design referencing higher exposed natural landscapes such as rocky outcrops with wind-swept pine trees.