Haworth Tompkins wins Barking light industry regeneration scheme

The RIBA Stirling Prize-winning practice was selected from a high-profile shortlist featuring Hat Projects, 00 Architecture, Gort Scott, and DRDH to win the project, which was tendered through the London Mayor’s £35 million Architecture, Design and Urbanism Panel (ADUP2) framework, which features the likes of DK-CM, Feilden Fowles, 6a Architects, and Duggan Morris.

The commission – backed by Barking and Dagenham Council’s BeFirst regeneration company – will transform an underused 0.7ha site (pictured below) on Long Reach Road into a new multistorey workspace for local businesses.

In a statement, BeFirst said: ‘Following a procurement exercise to seek services from a high-quality team of architectural practice to deliver the Intensifying Barking’s Industry project, Haworth Tompkins has been selected as preferred bidder.

‘Haworth Tompkins has demonstrated their strong understanding and experience of delivering viable commercial industrial project, and a track record in the industrial sector. Glenny has been appointed by the client as commercial adviser and KAM as the quantity surveyor.’

The project, supported by Mayor of London and the London Economic Action Partnership’s Good Growth Fund, comes two years after Hawkins\Brown and We Made That won an open contest to masterplan the mixed-use redevelopment of 135ha of industrial land in Barking and Dagenham.

Last year Haworth Tompkins revealed £300 million plans to intensify industrial activity on the 10ha Albert Island at the eastern end of London’s Royal Docks.