Winning design team announced - Phase 1b of the Grahame Park Regeneration Project

Choices for Grahame Park (CfGP) has appointed a design team led by Jestico + Whiles for its £95 million gateway Phase 1b project - a key element of its ground-breaking regeneration programme.

Key to the development will be a new library, park, community centre and shops for Grahame Park, as well as over 500 new homes. Construction work is due to start in 2010.

Five architect-led design teams were short-listed from 30 Europe-wide entrants to prepare design proposals for three landmark mixed-use buildings and a new piazza. The five teams (in alphabetical order of the Consortium Leader) were as follows:

• Hawkins\Brown with Proctor & Matthews Architects and Cartwright Pickard Architects.
• Jestico + Whiles with Rivington Street Studio and Peter Barber Architects.
• Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands with de Metz Forbes Knight Architects Ltd, Alison Brooks Architects Ltd, Riches Hawley Mikhail Architects and de Rijke Marsh Morgan.
• Pollard Thomas Edwards Architects with Amin Taha Architects, Ash Sakula Architects, Niall McLaughlin Architects and Tonkin Liu.
• White Arkitekter AB with PCKO Architects.

Teams were invited to present their initial design ideas, approach and thinking at a meeting of the Grahame Park Residents' Design Panel and then at a final interview with an Evaluation Panel. The latter consisted of representatives from CfGP, Countryside Properties Plc and Barnet Council, together with John Lyall (John Lyall Architects Ltd) acting as the RIBA Architect Adviser. The Panel thought that Jestico + Whiles would be excellent leaders for the project and their consortium had the experience and design flair to address the challenges and opportunities presented by Phase 1b of Grahame Park's regeneration. 

Anne Dufton (Chief Executive, Choices for Grahame Park Ltd) commented: "CfGP is again bringing excellent architects into Colindale. Our expectations and those of Grahame Park residents have been raised by this enthralling competition process. We had so many great ideas presented to us by some extremely talented teams of architects and are delighted with our choice, the Jestico + Whiles consortium."

Heinz Richardson (Director, Jestico + Whiles) said: "We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen for this important regeneration project, particularly given the extremely high calibre of the short-listed teams. We look forward to working together with Choices for Grahame Park, and in particular the residents of Grahame Park, to create a truly inspirational and sustainable place to live, which is above all humane."