The village square is directly served by the mainline station that has trains from Victoria, Charing Cross, London Bridge and Cannon Street reaching Kidbrooke in less than half an hour – comparable transport with the best of London’s suburbs. Buses are also routed to stop at the outside of the square and there is space for a future fast transport link to the Greenwich Peninsula. Around the perimeter of this new space are relatively tall apartment buildings in brick above shops, a supermarket, restaurants and community buildings surrounding a green landscaped area that gives onto the hotel which is clad in delicately wrought precast concrete. This is the heart of the new suburb and set four metres higher than the existing topography so as to be level with the main road, which is carefully laid out and landscaped to reduce traffic speeds and noise impact. A wide crossing from the main square provides easy pedestrian and cycle access to the park to the west.
The village square is at the focal point of many other routes in the Kidbrooke development – so its transport and public facilities are easily accessed by foot, cycle and car. The masterplan seeks to make the most sustainable and efficient use of space – developing only 35% of the available land and leaving a ‘spine’ of parkland with a mixed-use commercial development in a ‘hub’ to the north of the site. The four districts have key common qualities and materials and respond to existing neighbourhoods to the east and west.
Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands has a major role at Kidbrooke, designing the masterplan, Phase 1 and Phase 3, as well as acting in a design stewardship role for the other phases.
