It will provide the first pedestrian link between the Paddington National Rail and Underground stations, with a new ticket entrance to the Bakerloo line. “It is a station, so it is an important thoroughfare,” says Joost Moolhuijzen, the partner in charge of the project at Renzo Piano Building Workshop. “We know the numbers will increase because of Crossrail [set to open this summer]. It is inevitable, as it is for all stations, that you need to provide good pedestrian flow.” This will create layers of movement, akin to the Workshop’s Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, where the underground levels will be dedicated to a flurry of movement, and the ground levels are designed for people to dwell. Moolhuijzen says that “the start of the project was to create a new public realm,” as evidenced by the fact the office lobby is raised to the second level, away from the street, and by the better pedestrian links to neighboring St. Mary’s Hospital. Trees in the square, and exposure to the sun (through the south-facing piazza and top-floor terrace), make it “so people can really slow down and enjoy the location."

Peter Barber Architects will allow for ample homes to be built within a space, while providing homeowners with a real sense of identity. Rendering courtesy of Peter Barber Architects

Beechwood Mews: Peter Barber Architects

One of the major reasons Peter Barber thinks his firm won the bid to develop the 1.42-acre plot in Finchley was because it “could get an awful lot of units on the site”—97, in fact, a number he reckons is twice what landowners Transport for London (TfL) imagined would be possible. To do it, his team split the land in two, dividing it into mews with a new tree-lined avenue it imagines will become a more pleasant and trafficked thoroughfare than the North Circular Road. Having terraced-housing backing right onto the road means there will always be a significant reduction in noise from the road too, which has been the norm for the residents on the block since the 1970s.

A view of the terraced houses shows that the car-less back roads will lead to a significant reduction in noise. Rendering courtesy of Peter Barber Architects

The site has been sitting derelict for 20 years and was released by the office of the Mayor of London under its Small Sites, Small Builders program, which aims to make use of small publicly owned areas, such as this one. Most are earmarked with the condition of affordable housing being a priority, and Beechwood Mews is no exception—TfL stated the condition that half the units must be affordable. This was no issue to Barber, who advocates strongly for the building of houses that people can actually buy into. For him, with London having so much residential land, there has to be an effort made in thinking about housing in a public space. You can see it in the new lane: It will have a playground and places for people to sit, there are plans for a café and a corner shop, there are front doors for most units that lead onto the mews. While you can’t guarantee the residents will form a community, the point is “to create opportunities for people to do stuff” in the space.