How Railway Viaducts May Be Crucial To London's Journey To A 24/7 Economy

Despite being home to the Shard, Southwark has a noticeable paucity of tall buildings. At Bisnow’s New Frontiers event last week, Southwark Council’s Peter John explained the cause for that: The pipeline is glacial because there is so little space for new buildings. Adaptive reuse will be crucial to regenerating the area, and there's no larger opportunity than the railway viaducts that could house 1,000 businesses.

Southwark will be one of the best-connected parts of the capital by 2018, and that will transform the borough and bring new flavour into Southwark. Additionally, Southwark/London Bridge is the epicentre of the city’s push to become a 24-hour economy. To accommodate the anticipated groundswell in businesses (especially night-time retail) competing for space in crowded Southwark, developers will likely need to repurpose existing space, particularly nontraditional property.

The network of railway viaducts and arches that slice through central London south of the River Thames may be critical in the regeneration of Southwark and the wider efforts to kick-start a 24-hour economy in the capital.  

The Victorian structure stretches over six miles from Vauxhall to Bermondsey and cuts through some of the most deprived areas in the capital. According to the Crossriver Project, an organization involved in the regeneration of the viaducts, there are over 1,000 potential business units available to let in the adjoining arches. Best yet, they’re not as costly as traditional office space.  

There are already successful arch projects in the city, including at Elephant & Castle and Flatiron Square, which is a live music venue and food market. The risk of undertaking a viaduct-and-arches project isn’t huge, John said. A successful renovation requires patient, long-term money with an eye on the future. By finding innovative land uses, developers are transforming dark, dirty and forbidding spaces into community gathering spaces.

But the night economy will rely on what's around buildings as well. The organizations that are partnering to regenerate the area believe the spaces between buildings are important to revitalization, according to John. (Although Southwark, with its light industrial history, does not have many such spaces.)

Developers have attempted to justify buildings by saying they’re good for the public realm, but he’d like developers to put some real thought into delivering green, active outdoor spaces. “Public spaces should not be an add-on or an afterthought,” John said.

Click here for Part 1 of our coverage of Night London.