Attracting world-class architects to Croydon and ensuring future developments are built to last is the aim of a new local authority initiative.
Heather Cheesbrough, the borough’s new director of planning and strategic transport, is leading the formation of a Design Review Panel which aims to raise the bar in terms of the quality and beauty of major new developments, as well as avoiding the mistakes of the past.
“I’m not saying the quality of the design coming out of Croydon is bad but I think it could and should be a lot better,” said Heather, who trained as a landscape architect and has great experience as a planner both for local authorities and leading urban planners in the private sector.
“We should have a Frank Gehry building here; we should have international architects who really want to come and develop in Croydon.
“The Design Review Panel is one method we can use to try to raise the whole design debate and standard, but also to send out a very bold statement that Croydon expects fundamentally good design.
“It is projected that about 70 per cent of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050 so it’s really important we have beautiful cities.”
The make-up and format of the panel is currently under consideration, which will consider major developments in Croydon, and Heather anticipates a multi-disciplinary panel featuring eminent planners, landscape architects, civil engineers and public artists that will help to ensure new buildings have a longer lifespan than many from Croydon’s recent history.
“Some of the design from the 1960s I really like but we are having to replace a lot of buildings from the 1960s because they are tired, they’re not fit for purpose, but that’s not a very sustainable thing to do,” she added.
“It would be a complete failure if in 50 years’ time we say all these buildings that we built in the first 25 years of the 21st century have to be renewed because they’ve been really badly built.
“I want the Design Review to be able to create buildings that are going to last much longer and potentially be the listed buildings of tomorrow.
“We also need to make sure the public realm around buildings works better, that wind issues are dealt with and that they are a much more scalable human environment.”
However, there is a strong commitment to ensuring that the panel does not hold up the planning process.
“We’re just working through the proposals at the moment about how it would work because one of the key things we want to do is to make sure it helps developers and isn’t just another hurdle or obstacle,” added Heather.
“It needs to streamline the process because we want to try and make our planning applications process quicker.
“We certainly don’t want this slowing up the process, which may concern developers. It needs to give clear unambiguous advice.”
Croydon has all the right ingredients
Heather Cheesbrough became Croydon’s planning chief in January, having previously worked for Bexley, Barking, Westminster and most recently Hounslow, as well as spending several years as a private sector masterplanner with Urban Initiatives, EDAW and AECOM.
And she feels a long-term commitment to Croydon at a time when it is on the cusp of massive change.
“It’s basically a city and there is so much potential here,” said Heather. “You think about the challenges that London has to meet in terms of housing, environmental sustainability and movement; but Croydon is the whole thing because you’ve got green belt, you’ve got what’s going on in the centre, you’ve got the tram and it’s got a massively big population which is growing.
“I don’t think there is anywhere that’s more exciting than Croydon.
‘It has a very strong community and a really strong identity that I don’t think you get anywhere else in London.
“It’s got all the right ingredients in terms of the team that I head up to be the best planning team in London because of the sort of applications that we’re getting and the context where the politicians are really up for it, we want growth.
“That gives us every reason to excel because other London boroughs don’t have that excitement and opportunity that I think we do have.
“You’ve got to have the political will, plus the market, plus the sort of vision to make it happen that I think we’ve got in Croydon.”