Designed by Dutch architecture firm OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), Morden Wharf will include more than three acres of riverfront park, known as Morden Park, which will offer views of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and Canary Wharf across the River Thames.
The park will lead directly off the Thames Path and will be open to workers, visitors and residents alike. The landscape design is inspired by the site’s history as a marshland and will add a significant new ecological resource to the area. The Thames Path will be significantly upgraded and increased in width to six metres, three metres for pedestrians and three metres for cyclists.
A new public square that will host seasonal events and markets will be laid out where the Thames Path meets Sea Witch Lane, the main boulevard that runs east to west through the scheme. Underground car parking facilities means the public space will cater almost exclusively to pedestrians and cyclists.
The open space at Morden Wharf will include play and recreation space designed for all age groups, amounting roughly to three-and-a-half football pitches, helping to address the existing deficit of open space in the area.
The scheme also comprises 12 high quality and tenure-blind residential buildings. The homes, of which 35% will be affordable, will include a mix of private sale, shared ownership and London Affordable Rent, which in particular will have a focus on family homes. A number of the residential buildings will feature vertical green façades that will help to provide natural screening and improve air quality.
U+I’s proposals will also deliver a mix of commercial and employment uses that will create around 1,100 new permanent jobs. This includes commercial, retail and community use, including smaller flexible spaces for SMEs and creative businesses. Echoing its rich history as a place of industry, a series of maker spaces and light industrial units will sit on the part of the site designated as Strategic Industrial Land.
An existing warehouse on the site of an old pub, The Sea Witch, that was destroyed by a bomb during the Second World War, will be retained to accommodate a new pub together with a mix of refurbished workspace for creative businesses. Other features of the scheme include a potential children’s nursery and other community space.
The plans also include a new permanent boat house on an existing jetty, designed by architects Carmody Groarke. The boathouse could provide a permanent mooring for Gloriana, the Monarch’s Royal Rowbarge, which was expertly crafted to mark Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.