South Chingford
client: Waltham Forest Council, budget: £240k, contractor: Peter Loe Restorations
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South Chingford’s architecture is an eclectic mix of 19th-century terraces, Tudor revival, fine early 20th-century Art Deco and 1950s urban tenement blocks. Even though both independent and chain shops have a well-cared-for appearance, an undercurrent of economic decline was starting to become manifest along the high street.
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Our town centre regeneration strategy focused on Albert Square, the civic heart of the area. The project has transformed a cluttered and strategically dysfunctional space into a well-proportioned public square surrounded by a crescent of remodelled shops in an elegant Art Deco building. New openable shopfronts allow retail activities to spread into the public space, encouraging a vibrant pavement culture. Twelve indigenous cast iron songbirds by artist Mikael Nilsson populate the parapets of the shops and evoke the distinct suburban character typical for this part of London.
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The works have helped to strengthen local retail and have provided a new civic hub for the neighbourhood, ready to host Christmas markets, antique fairs or flower shows.
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