The Link offers an exciting opportunity to provide much needed community facilities to the Thamesmead population.

The project utilises previously dead space under the arches of a flyover in the centre of Thamesmead. The physical “Arches” space is defined by the supporting concrete structure created by the fly-over. This outlines a series of simple, ‘non-spaces’ located under the road. This undeveloped land typically found in urban areas is often neglected and abused. However, it presents a unique opportunity in which to explore both the needs of the community and how their requirements can be fundamentally embodied in this facility. To maximise the use of such an area and utilise the structure for shelter is a beautifully simple sustainable concept.

The design has explored how to turn this physical ‘hard’ space into a carefully defined, tangible building focused on youth facilities. The design therefore is bold and colourful using materials which are ‘softer’ than the concrete which encloses the Arches and acts as a curtain pulled out across its face. The aim being to create the unexpected, allowing the space to reinvent itself, with a greater energy and renewed capacity to serve the community.

This scheme was completed in 2013 and has been very well received, please see comments The Link: www.thelinkthamesmead.co.uk/about_us/

savillejones project The Youth Leisure Zone, features as one of the 100 UK projects using Cross Laminated timber construction in Waugh Thistleton Architects “100 PROJECTS UK CLT”.

This publication features a collection of 100 case studies of buildings in the UK constructed from cross-laminated timber and glue-lam. It contains  a wealth of information, which will be an invaluable tool to promote and encourage the use of CLT across the world but in particular in the UK. The extraordinary range of project types and scale should help to persuade building developers, funders and contractors that this is now a well established building technology.