The development partnership which has taken two decades to deliver a couple of office buildings, plus Boozepark and a block of flats on the nine-acre “gateway” site next to East Croydon Station, is now seeking public opinion on what they ought to do with the remaining section of land beside the railway line.
New neighbours: Stanhope-Schroders are seeking views on the fourth part of their Ruskin Square jigsaw
Things have been a little quiet around Ruskin Square since the fanfare more than a year ago when 5,000 Home Office staff, including their Lunar House immigration officials, transferred to 2 Ruskin Square.
Their civil service colleagues in HMRC have worked out of 1 Ruskin Square since 2017.
The office building at 3 Ruskin Square has planning permission, but is yet to be built.
So now it is 4 Ruskin Square, where developers Stanhope and investors Schroders are bringing forward what they describe as “emerging design proposals” for what must be one of the final pieces of their property jigsaw on Lansdowne Road.
This tranche of land is to be used for housing. Build! Baby, build!
Blank canvas: developers are inviting the public to view CGIs for this site, which sits between 1960s multi-storey car park and their new offices
Stanhope-Schroders say that they want to hear “your aspirations for the site”.
They say: “This will help us to shape the benefits arising from our proposed investment.”
There are to be two public sessions “where you can meet the team and view the early design plans for the next phase of Ruskin Square”, both to be held at The Lansdowne Building, 2 Lansdowne Road, CR9 2ER:
- Tue Dec 9, 4.30pm to 7pm
- Thu Dec 11, at the same times.
The proposals involve two residential buildings which the architects behind the scheme, Shedkm, could not restrain themselves from describing as “mediat[ing] between scales, improve permeability and enhance the public realm”.
And there’s more: “The design outdoor public spaces, new green corridors and introduces characterful spaces such as the Glade, Secret Garden, and Garden Room, all aimed at fostering a vibrant and inclusive neighbourhood.” Seriously.
The nitty-gritty is a little more prosaic, and informative. And not obviously available in the materials released in the past week by the PR agency handling the consultation.
They intend to build two blocks – which they refer to as ro2 and ro3 – which will provide 150 and 176 homes respectively, more than doubling the residential units on Ruskin Square, where 22-storey apartment building Vita was completed almost 10 years ago.
The location of R2D2, the architects say, “along with the proximity to the pedestrian bridge, will make R02 a highly visible development, with the connection to Lansdowne Walk acting as a major draw to commuters entering and leaving the city”.
By “the city”, we think they mean Croydon. By the “pedestrian bridge”, we think they mean the Bridge To Nowhere, which remains stubbornly closed off at the Addiscombe end, almost 14 years since it was all but completed.
The architects have so far failed to state how tall their two new residential blocks, R2D2 and C3PO, will be. They do, though, make a nod to sustainability with the retention of mature trees, some new planting, green roofs and climate-resilient landscaping.
Significantly, for an area around the railway station which is too often regarded as a hostile and somewhat desolate no-go zone, they are promising “enhanced permeability across the site, with active frontages and visual connections that improve the pedestrian experience along Lansdowne Road”.
And as most Croydon residents will, by now, have come to realise, Stanhope-Schroders will at least deliver their proposals long before anything happens nearby under the supervision of Westfield…
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