'An Industrial Suburb': The Commercial Buildings Of South Shoreditch 1850-1980 – Part One
Author(s): Joanna Smith, Tara Draper-Stumm
South Shoreditch lies just north of the City of London, at the centre of a band that has be-come known in development contexts as the 'City Fringe' . Subject to considerable pres-sure for change and redevelopment, the entire City Fringe has been identified in the Lon-don Plan as a strategic zone containing 'opportunity areas' with the capacity to accommo-date new jobs, homes and cultural and community facilities. South Shoreditch forms both a strategically important area within the City Fringe and one of the most acute sites of devel-opment pressure. This district is an ancient one, largely built up in the Georgian period and rebuilt as a commercial and industrial suburb during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Much has survived, giving the area a consistent architectural character and a rich concentration of Victorian and Edwardian commercial buildings. It is therefore appro-priate that its future development should be managed through a co-ordinated planning approach at both strategic and local level. In 2002 Hackney Council, the Greater London Authority Group and English Heritage com-missioned an Urban Policy Framework Study from Urban Practioners and Alan Baxter & Associates. Their study, completed in 2004, included a character appraisal of the area and recommendations for appropriate planning policies that balanced new development and the protection of the historic environment. At the same time English Heritage initiated a project for comprehensive assessment of the area's commercial buildings from it own historians within the Historic Buildings and Areas Research Department. The purpose of the project was to investigate the historic character and significance of South Shored itch and its distinctive and predominant building types.
- Report Number:
- 99/2004
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 125
- Keywords:
- Modern Architectural Investigation