Developed design ideas and your priorities

Waltham Forest Council and Countryside want to work with local people to transform the area around the Town Hall into a new neighbourhood celebrating culture and heritage, creating new affordable homes as well as exceptional green spaces for everyone to enjoy.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our activities to date; sharing their priorities on the four design principles and giving us feedback on the emerging design online, over the phone and by attending our Online Design Meeting.

We have read and processed all of the feedback, comments and priorities collected over the past weeks about the emerging design and the four principles and in this next phase we want to present these back to you alongside the developed designs for Fellowship Square.

We want to make sure that we have heard your priorities correctly and over the coming weeks gather your feedback on whether you feel the developed designs for Fellowship Square reflect what you have told us.

Find out about upcoming events and opportunities to have your say and get involved at f ellowshipsquare.commonplace.is, email

f ellowshipsquare@make-good.com or by calling 0203 735 7629 .

Over the past few weeks we have been collecting your feedback and comments about the future of Fellowship Square and have collated these into a draft list of priorities based on what we’ve heard and the four principles the emerging design is based on.

We will be using this list throughout this exhibition and events to ask whether you feel these priorities are correct, and also to check whether the developing designs reflect what people want for the future of this new neighbourhood.

In addition to your feedback and priorities, there were 237 comments on the heatmap of the area, telling us what works well at the moment, what doesn’t work as well and what the opportunities are for the activities and use of the spaces around the Town Hall. These were used alongside the design team’s site analysis and contributed to your draft community priorities. 

This Masterplan offers a sensitive redevelopment of the area around the Town Hall that delivers Waltham Forest Council’s affordable housing targets whilst designing a new civic hub, where local businesses and residents feel welcome and included, leaving a legacy for future generations. 

The creation of a civic hub incorporates spaces for the community to fully utilise the site, integrating with pedestrian priority streets for walking, cycling and the existing surroundings. Legibility across the site allows for intuitive movement with seamless connections to existing routes.

Defining the neighbourhood by it’s landscape character, maximising views of green spaces, removing street parking and stitching into Chestnuts Field. Offering a variety of public and private open spaces with a series of characters across the neighbourhood to help promote identity, way-finding and sense of belonging.  

Some of you raised queries over the height, homes and parking around the Town Hall. Whilst some aspects were approved by Waltham Forest Council in 2018 as part of RIBA Stage 2, we have described the approach to these below; 

Height and Massing 

The scheme respects the urban form, height and heritage of the listed buildings, completing the masterplan and fitting in with the original intention of the site. The space between buildings had been considered carefully to ensure the new blocks do not dominate and the overall massing seeks to reference the parapet height of the listed Town hall.

New homes

The new homes will be Private for sale, Shared Ownership and London Affordable Rent. The mix of buildings will provide a wide range of living options from studio apartments for first time buyers through to four bedroom family properties for affordable rent.

Affordable Housing

The site will be tenure blind, with the new homes being a mixture of Private, Shared Ownership and Affordable Rental units. The ambition is to achieve 50% Affordable habitable rooms made up of Shared Ownership and London Affordable Rent tenure, this would be available to households on the waiting list for social housing.

Parking

This will be a car-free development for the residential blocks except for the inclusion of disabled parking spaces and encompassing the operational parking requirements for the Town Hall and Council offices.

A new neighbourhood that celebrates local culture and heritage, creating exceptional green and open spaces for everyone to enjoy.

The development will be a true community offering: public green spaces accessible for all that function as multipurpose event and community space; a civic building that will complete the original Hepworth masterplan, provide a café and flexible workspaces, spilling out onto the front lawns to activate the square and create a vibrant and attractive neighbourhood; and a new landscaped setting that will enhance the heritage of the site and celebrate monuments that speak of the Borough’s wider history. Buildings adjoining the town hall will not exceed the parapet height, maintaining the listed building as the main feature.

The various landscaped areas work together to offer a range of community activities, which form part of one greater, safer, communal, activity hub. The new development is balanced by a vibrant, green and open setting with all homes having a view of green space.

Keeping the existing front lawns as inviting green spaces populated with clusters of trees and introducing two new pedestrian paths for better connectivity. Chestnuts Fields will accommodate greater health benefits with a new half-Kilometre running track and dedicated play areas, a wetland for educational and wildlife interest and the opportunity the hold large public events. A diverse range of planting will emerge throughout the site with stronger greener connections through the addition of over 100 new trees. 

The masterplan maximises recreational use of the lawns and Chestnuts Field, including sports, fitness and play facilities, an integrated running route and opportunities for community growing considered in and around residential areas.

Fellowship Square is designed to enable a variety of events and be adaptable for the future, linking to the publicly accessible community café/workspace on the ground floor of the Civic Building and the cultural events at the Assembly Hall. 

Events will be managed by the Council and the need for flexible community facilities will be considered in the next stages of development.

The development is being designed to create new publicly accessible, pedestrian and cycle friendly streets that integrate the new homes with the new civic neighbourhood. Varying colours and patterns will be used to help encourage way-finding, accessibility and streets will be treelined where possible to offer different green routes. 

Wide ‘avenues’ provide breathing space between buildings, ensuring views of green space throughout the site. We will ensure that streets are well lit and safe spaces for people to move through the site from Forest Road towards Chestnut Fields and The Feel Good Centre and introduce seating where possible.