Last Tuesday the Geezers had a fascinating visit by Faz Yusop and George Koutas from make:good – a local business who are leading the community engagement about the future of Bow Goods Yard.
Where is Bow Goods Yard?
Until the presentation to the Geezers I had thought that the Goods Yard was simply the plot of land behind the Shell petrol station on Wick Lane – opposite Screwfix. But it turns out that it extends across City Mill River to the View Tube end of the Greenway. The day after the talk I walked along the Greenway and took the photo below. It is a big site.
The Proposed Masterplan
Network Rail and its design team are working towards an ‘Outline Masterplan’ for Bow Goods Yard. I took the map above from the Masterplan website. The site includes 30 acres of Brownfield land, between Pudding Mill Lane DLR and Fish Island. It is designated as ‘Strategic Industrial Land’ and is currently home to rail freight and concrete processing uses which need to be retained on site. This is one of London’s last remaining rail heads and can bring in millions of tonnes of concrete and aggregate.
Faz and George told us that the ready mixed cement lorries we see on the streets have to reach their destinations within 30 minutes. That’s a maximum of 4 miles. This site is more important to London than it looks.
The new plans propose improving and consolidating the rail head and the concrete processing to allow other uses on the site. Perhaps a mix of lighter industrial, employment, and leisure spaces. This would see the site generate at least ten times more jobs, alongside new indoor and outdoor spaces for the community to enjoy, whilst making existing heavier industrial uses a better neighbour.
Since June last year, the design team has spoken to almost 600 people who visit, live, work, and study in the area around Bow Goods Yard and have used this understanding of local people’s priorities to create a Community Brief for the project.
In March 2024 there will be several events where people can see the designs and have their say, as well as ideas for interim uses to activate the site in the short term before the Outline Planning Application is submitted.
Find out more and sign up to the mailing list at: www.bowgoodsyardmasterplan.com/
Recent Update:
There will be a series of drop-in exhibitions in March, as below.
Alan Tucker