The Camden Highline, a charity with an aspiring vision for the conversion of the disused railway into a creative green space, recently launching an exciting competition for the project’s lead design studio. The winners will work closely with local community groups and stakeholders to welcome a sensational new green space that links Camden Town to Kings Cross.
The Camden Highline continues to gather momentum with a promising new search for a diverse and radical team that can both design and deliver their exciting proposal for a 15-minute green walking route, inspired by the iconic New York Highline. Occupying 1.1km of disused railway viaduct, the Highline will be a remarkable landscaped space, offering a unique perspective on the city and linking Camden Market, Camden Road, Camley Street and Kings Cross to each other and to their local communities.
The exceptional team will be tasked with vivifying a piece of vacant infrastructure, a timely opportunity when access to green space is at the forefront of conversations as we look to our city’s post-Covid future. As a grassroots project, the Camden Highline has gathered exciting momentum among locals who are a vital part of making it a reality. Concurrently, the project promises to be a design and architectural feat, setting the precedent for upward thinking in our quest to increase green space, improve our citizens’ wellbeing and inject our urban sprawl with invaluable biodiversity. The Highline will act as a beacon for what positive and sustainable development for Camden, and indeed the whole of London and the UK, can look like – a park that inspires a new approach to inclusive urban design.
A competition to find a design team that can deliver a stunning design for the Camden Highline, a new park and linear walk linking London’s Camden Town to King’s Cross, on a disused railway viaduct.
Our client’s aspiration is to create a park for everybody, connecting people in the area both physically and with new community activities.
THE PROJECT
Colander Associates is delighted to announce that it will be managing this high-profile competition on behalf of the Camden Highline Charity, to find an exceptional team to design a new park for London. The Camden Highline will occupy 1.1km of disused railway viaduct running from Camden Town to King’s Cross and the vacant platforms at Camden Road station, with a number of access points along its route to connect it to road level. This is a very special project that needs an exceptional team both to design it and deliver it, one that balances design, community, nature and innovation alongside technical experience. For this reason, we invite submissions from partnerships which include established and experienced organisations alongside emerging designers.
JURY PANEL
As well as representatives of the Charity, the jury will include Alison Brooks of Alison Brooks Architects; Wayne Hemingway of Hemingway Design; Ed Jarvis of Camden Council; Indy Johar, Good Growth by Design Advocate to the Mayor of London; Kathryn Moore, President of the International Federation of Landscape Architects.
REGISTRATION
To express an interest, and access further information about this project, competitors should visit https://www.colander.co.uk/architectural-competitions and follow the link. This process is being managed by Colander Associates Ltd and all general enquiries should be addressed to camdenhighline@colander.co.uk
PROCESS
The competition is following a two-stage OJEU compliant process. At Stage 1, applications are invited in the form of an expression of interest. Up to five teams will be shortlisted to Stage 2 and will be asked to respond to an Invitation to Tender and attend an interview with the Jury Panel. An honorarium of £10,000 will be paid to the shortlisted Stage 2 teams.
PROGRAMME
Stage 1 submissions are required by noon on 07 October 2020.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Camden Highline
