399 Edgware Road, London

Challenge  

For an area of London in desperate need of regeneration, a new eye catching scheme was proposed to transform this area into a new contemporary landmark. The new scheme to showcase a striking, geometric, glazed façade, running the breadth of a new food court and Morrisons supermarket, setting its appearance apart from most other retail schemes. The retail elements featuring pitched roofs to create the atmosphere of an indoor market with plenty of daylight flooding into the building.

Solution

PUDLO was the chosen admixture used in the concrete for the ground floor slab in Morrisons supermarket, which forms a large part of the 399 Edgware Road development. The slab was divided into sections with movement joints installed throughout, meaning that careful planning and design was necessary, together with excellent on-site support from PUDLO representatives. The lift pits in the development were also constructed using PUDLO modified concrete, ensuring durability and watertightness for years to come.

Result

Previously the Oriental City shopping centre, which was closed for good in 2008. 399 Edgware Road is now a mixed-use development in north-west London, offering a new place to work, live, shop and eat, and incorporates a new primary school for over 400 pupils. Bringing major investment to the area and creating 700 jobs, this new site is a breath of fresh air, transforming what was a derelict site into a buzzing new space that is sure to attract visitors from far and wide. Michael Marx, Chief Executive of Development Securities said of the new site, “It delivers a flourishing legacy for the local community, with a comprehensive new mixed-use regeneration scheme on land that was previously vacant and derelict.”

In its previous incarnation as a far eastern shopping plaza, the centre was a focal point for the local oriental community. This was something the designers wanted to touch upon with this new £25m development, creating an authentic new oriental food court, restaurant, shops and specialist grocers, ensuring its Asian cultural ties remain in place. As well as this new retail space, the development has created 183 new homes and landscaped communal spaces, all of which are just a few minutes’ walk from Edgware Road tube station, making it a very attractive place to live. It also provides 590 parking spaces for retail and residential use, plus 500 cycle spaces.