RMIT architecture expertise helping to shape urban recovery of London’s Royal Docks

RMIT architecture expertise helping to shape urban recovery of London’s Royal Docks

For RMIT’s Tom Holbrook, London’s Royal Docks are a testbed for an ecological urbanism that accelerates an equitable recovery from COVID-19 and addresses the climate emergency.

London’s Royal Docks are the world’s largest area of impounded water. 

Constructed at the end of the nineteenth century to accommodate ships too large for the upper river reaches and wharves, the last commercial ship sailed in 1981.

Tom Holbrook, Director of 5th Studio in the UK and Mayor’s Design Advocate for the Greater London Authority, said that this giant piece of infrastructure – conceived at the singularity and scale of an international airport – was thus left obsolete: dreaming of becoming part of the city.

30 June 2021

Share

Royal London Docks

Holbrook, who is an RMIT Professor of Architecture and Industry Fellow, is working on a series of public realm interventions that set the scene for the move of London City Hall to the Royal Docks.

"Our work for the Greater London Authority and Newham on the Royal Docks coincided with the pandemic, itself a dress rehearsal for the challenges to come from the climate emergency," he said.

"Spanning from the strategic through to operations on the ground, a series of projects have allowed us to consider the overlapping multi-scalar challenges of infrastructure, urbanism, landscape and architecture."

Holbrook said that London’s post-COVID-19 recovery is a time for reflection in terms of what has been learnt from the upheaval in our lives with respect to work, and the rediscovery of our intertwined and co-dependant relationship with nature.

"Residents around the docks have been one of the communities worst affected by the pandemic, with high rates of infection and the largest proportion of workers on furlough in the capital," he said.

"The move of London City Hall to the area brings a political focus to what is already a project with momentum.

"In contrast to the Neoliberal experimentation of the London Docklands Development Corporation upriver, the Royal Docks offer the city the arena as an ‘expo’ site to explore both equitable urban recovery from COVID-19 and the development of an ecological urbanism to address the bigger crisis to come," he said.

"In its scope and scale, the Royal Docks can become a testbed for a resilient London that truly grasps the necessary ambition and innovation of our age."

This article is republished from Architecture Today – read the original article with photography by Timothy Soar.

30 June 2021

Share

  • Research
  • Sustainability
  • Alumni
  • RMIT Europe
  • Architecture
  • Environment
Engage

Related News

Rendered image of Greenline Project, featuring trees and a walkway along the Yarra River.

RMIT students learn what it takes to design for Melbourne’s heart

Landscape Architecture students have experienced what it's like to undertake public space design with esteemed studios ASPECT Studio, T.C.L and Aecom. Using the City of Melbourne’s Greenline Project as a case study, students got a taste of what's involved in one of the most significant landscape projects ever undertaken in Australia.

Slovenia.jpg

Global learning award winners: Online courses for sustainable, inclusive and beautiful cities

Short online courses by RMIT Europe, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) Community, EIT Urban Mobility and the New European Bauhaus (NEB) have been named winners in the 2023 LearnX Awards.

sacf-thumbnail.jpg

RMIT joins the Spain-Australia Council Foundation

RMIT has become the first Australian institution to join the Spain-Australia Council Foundation as a patron.

Creator Dyann Fang speaks at podium alongside Dr Jan van Schaik

Public art bringing life to Madame Brussels Lane

RMIT student Yidan ‘Dyann’ Fang has created a unique public artwork, The Arch of Spring, on display in Madame Brussels Lane in Melbourne’s CBD.

Show more
aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

More information