Urban quilting: How Better Bankside BID stitched a place in time

Better Bankside’s two biggest projects rely on storytelling to bring disparate partners together to make an impact. The first, Bankside Urban Forest, launched in 2007, and was shaped by a design competition, won by Witherford Watson Mann, to create an urban park. The result is not a forest but a series of public space improvements for people and wildlife across the neighbourhood: forest clearings and microclimates amongst the dense urban fabric.

Beirne joined Better Bankside to work on the forest in 2008. Although the term ‘forest’ does spark some confusion, the overarching narrative of the project creates a shared vision that enables participation. Private and public sector partners can bring forward small-scale urban greening or pedestrianisation projects that become part of the “forest”.

Even if the resulting project lacks the visitor wow-factor or bombast of a major intervention, such as a Shard or Tate Modern, the incremental project has made an impact, adding at least 250 trees to the neighbourhood and increasing green cover by 1,000m2. Projects include a modular green wall in Borough Market and a micro-forest of trees planted into former parking spaces at Warden’s Grove.

Low Line is another incremental project led by Better Bankside. Also sparked by a design competition, the Low Line reimagines existing railway viaducts that bisect the wider area. The imposing barrier of 390 arches becomes a landmark walk and orientation tool with a series of pedestrianisation and public space projects that link up Bankside, Bermondsey and London Bridge.

“There was a huge amount of thinking going into these big buildings, but nobody was really thinking about the spaces between the buildings” 

“The viaduct is the wayfinding, you follow the railway,” says Beirne. “We often compare the Low Line to how the Thames path has evolved over the last 40-50 years. If you went back to the ‘70s, you couldn’t have walked continuously along the river.

“There are physical blockages along the Low Line that mean you can’t follow it continuously. It’s going to take time to unblock those physical impediments.”

Unlike its inspiration ­– New York’s High Line, you can’t walk on top of the viaduct, but alongside or under it. Investment in the arches – about a third of them are described by Better Bankside as derelict or underused – and adjacent sites, including the Low Line Common, make this another incremental project.

“I definitely think there are advantages to something that rolls out over time. It’s far more flexible; you can be more site specific and more targeted in your investment; it doesn’t all have to happen at once, so if you don’t have one piece of the puzzle, it doesn’t stop the whole project.

If the resulting project lacks wow-factor, it has made an impact, adding at least 250 trees to the neighbourhood

“It’s not a masterplan where you have to do it in sequence and you need x amount of money to make it happen. This is far more nimble and flexible, and different people can contribute through their own projects, ideas or investment. It’s far more richer as an incremental process than a big set piece.”  

“One advantage at the Urban Forest and Low Line was that it was always a partnership, it was never just one organisation,” says Bierne.

The wayfinding provided by the Low Line signage is transformational. Navigating the neighbourhood is no longer a maze worthy of a Minotaur. Maps on the signs indicate your location on the Line and the way to Blackfriars, Southwark and London Bridge stations. They also encourage a spirit of discovery, bidding you to “follow beside the dramatic brick viaducts and discover some of London’s industrial and commercial heritage.”

There are also ‘jewels in the rut’ to discover as Beirne describes them: a stone marks a Medeival burial ground; a coal-hole cover on the pavement commemorates local people who lost their lives in an air raid. “The creativity of the art reveals itself in lots of different ways,” says Beirne of the work. In cities, railway infrastructure and stations can be perceived as undesirable no man’s lands – bridges, tunnels and the wrong side of the tracks – but the historical references and artworks stitch the past into the present, heightening the sense of place.

Beirne left Better Bankside last year to set up her own consultancy. After 14 years working client-side, she is now hoping to help other organisations. “I’m actually working with a lot of architects who are keen to build their expertise in placemaking and crafting place strategies, so that’s been good fun,” Beirne says. “I’m excited about what the future holds and it’s lovely to be spreading my wings.”    

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