Arup to lead masterplanning of Thames Gateway zone

A team headed by Arup has been signed up by the London Thames Gateway Urban Development Corporation to deliver the long-awaited masterplan of the regeneration zone.

The consultant is part of a team that has been asked to work up a physical development framework for the Gateway, running from London’s Olympic zone to the boundary with Thurrock in Essex.

The area takes in all of the London Riverside area, as well as Barking and Dagenham and East Beckton, and will produce a blueprint for what is increasingly being talked of as the focus of new housebuilding in east London.

Building recently revealed that Richard Rogers’ reconvened urban taskforce is likely to recommend that the Thames Gateway be refocused on the area. London mayor Ken Livingstone is to have a personal role in driving the regeneration forward.

Arup has been working with the London Development Agency, the London Thames Gateway UDC, headed by Lorraine Baldry, and a team of consultants to assemble the plan.

It’s not a traditional job where we go off and produce something six months later

Chris Tunnell, Arup director

The team also includes Stephen Taylor Architects, consultant Turner & Townsend, transport expert Steer Davies Gleave, property specialist Savills and project manager Capita Symonds.

Sources close to the project said that the work currently being done by the team would produce the “big idea” for the Thames Gateway.

Arup director Chris Tunnell said it would look to achieve a “step change” in terms of sustainability and design. He said: “We need to take the area forward in a way that sits well with the aims of the local communities and government. It’s quite an innovative approach as the LDA, the UDC and the consulting team have been working closely together. It’s not a traditional job where we go off and produce something six months later.”

The team hopes to draw all the work in the area into an overarching strategy for development in the Gateway.