Last week, Leake Street Arches took home the Placemaking Award at the first ever London Infrastructure Awards. Set up to celebrate both globally recognised infrastructure projects and the individuals making their mark on London’s infrastructure network, the event followed a day of shared insights and debate at the London Infrastructure Summit.
Held at The National Gallery, the fifth annual London Infrastructure Summit, attracted over 500 delegates and experts across business, national and London government and infrastructure providers. With infrastructure a hot topic in the press right now, the focus of the 2018 summit was on the future, with priorities after completion of the Thameslink and Crossrail projects high on the agenda.
One of five awards given that night, The Placemaking Award recognised projects that had integrated infrastructure with London’s wider urban fabric, for example through unlocking new housing and associated development or public realm improvements. Shortlisted alongside LCR’s Leake Street Arches project was InLinkUK from BT for their free public Wi-Fi and phone calls and Weston Williamson and Partners for their Barking Town Centre Vision.
The award was presented to LCR’s Development Manager, Duko Frankhuizen, who thanked Network Rail and the Department for Transport for their collaborative contribution to the project, and also the project team in bringing the eight long-neglected railway arches back to life. This team included Corstorphine + Wright (Architects), Nulty (Lighting), RPS (Property Managers), QODA (M&E services), ITC Concepts (Contractors) Curtins (Structural Engineers) and Union Street Partners (Leasing Agents).
The recognition for Leake Street Arches comes at a great time for the project, which launched on 16th July with the official opening of four tenants; Aures London, Banh Bao Brothers, Draughts and Rat Bar @ 26 Leake Street.
Adrian Lee, Development Director at LCR said; “These awards acknowledge projects that have helped make London the best city in the world to do business. We are thrilled to get such recognition amongst great company”.