Millharbour Village

Millharbour Village is a proposed high density mixed use neighbourhood in South Quay that includes schools, parks, commercial space, office space and 1,500 new homes that combine to create a significant new community.

Originated through an Urban Design Framework in 2012 (developed in consultation with London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the GLA) the proposals have progressed to a recent detailed planning submission by Galliard Homes.

The development includes a new three form entry state run primary school, and the capacity for the relocation and enlargement of the existing educational and performance arts uses along with 1,500 new homes that combine to create 6 truly mixed use buildings.

Whilst Studio Egret West is the masterplanner and landscape architect for the development, the architecture has been designed by both Studio Egret West and Hawkins\Brown. The two practices are collaborating across the site in a truly integrated manner. Working across both the East and West of Millharbour Village, each practice is completing the design of three of the six buildings. Studio Egret West is leading on Millharbour West while Hawkins\Brown is leading on Millharbour East. The non-residential accommodation areas have also been distributed between the two practices. 

This collaboration follows a previous partnership in 2013 when Hawkins\Brown and Studio Egret West were nominated for the Stirling Prize for their joint work on the Park Hill Estate in Sheffield.

A strong emphasis on providing a liveable new neighbourhood is the driver behind the proposals. The introduction of tall, high density, residential buildings is made possible through the inclusion of key community infrastructure. Millharbour West focuses on education at ground level, where the prospect of three new and enlarged schools combine with a new park. Millharbour East has a different focus, providing a new more open park that links to ground floor restaurants, cafés and office spaces activating the dockside to create a lively civic environment. 

The traditional boundaries of parks and pavements are broken down allowing a landscape that reflects the historic character of the Marsh River to permeate across the public realm. In a similar blurring of boundaries the parks include built forms in the shape of tall open structures. These growing frames recreate the industrial language of the dockside ensuring that the parks are not dominated by the buildings, but have a strong presence and character of their own.