Jan Kattein Architects

👏 Planning granted! It has been lovely working together on this Andy Edwards & Makespace Oxford.

Did you know that the location of London’s most spectacular art deco underground station is also the site of the historic South Gate to the former Royal Enfield Chase hunting grounds? We have been working with local residents and Enfield Council to re-invent an underused patch of green in the town centre. A key feature are two carved oak tree benches and a group of stepping logs embracing a new triangular social space for Southgate. The trunks were sourced from fallen trees in Epping Forest and bear inscriptions that tell the story of the historic landscape character and use. As for the trees themselves, they would have been saplings when Queen Elizabeth the 1st visited in 1557 to hunt deer and bucks with her peacock feather winged, silver headed arrows. Great team effort from Corina Tuna, Adventure Playground Engineers (APES) Ltd, Andrea Bugli and Khalif Koleoso.

Do you live or work near Canning Town? Do you know Limmo Peninsula? We are working with our friends from the Social Sports Society on the design for a temporary leisure + community project and would really like to hear what you think of our proposals. Please come, have a look at our plans and speak to us. We’ll be on Hopewell Square E16 1EJ on 02 November ‘24 between 10am and 4pm.

Our proposals for Harrow Road shopfront improvements were given planning permission by Westminster City Council last week. The project forms part of WCC’s North Paddington Program and aims to support traders and the local economy as well as improve the retail environment for shoppers, residents and visitors. Works are part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Improvements include repairs to shopfronts, decorating, reinstatement of historic architectural features, new signage and lighting. A start on site is imminent with completion expected in spring 2025. JKA have to date completed works to 500+ shopfronts in 25+ town centres. We have found that physical improvements often serve as a catalyst for high street retailers to evaluate their retail offer and make small adaptations that end up making their business more resilient, more profitable and more attuned to the needs of local communities. We find that you certainly can judge a shop by its shopfront. Congratulations to project architect Corina Tuna and Hailey Savage and the Place Shaping Team at WCC including Adam Summerfield, Rose S. and Kitty Ward.

Drummond Street is an institution with a cultural heritage that goes back some three generations. It was in Drummond Street where some of London’s very first Indian Restaurants were established and the street remains a well know destination for authentic Indian and Bangladeshi cuisine today. The neighbourhood faced significant challenges when major infra-structure works started to disrupt trade and access from Euston Station in 2018. Then COVID hit and the pandemic almost finished off some of the long-standing businesses, threatening the cultural identity of a very unique London neighbourhood. We started to work with Euston Town, the local BID in 2018 to develop a plan that would assure the future of the street and its businesses. Our neighbourhood strategy managed to secure financial backing from the HS2 Business and Local Economy Fund. In 2021, we launched the Drummond Streatery, helping to bring trade back by providing a unique al fresco dining experience. The second phase of the project which was completed earlier this year improved 13 shopfronts and signs along the street to uplift the visual appearance and provide effective signage and lighting for evening trading. It felt special to come back to Drummond Street last week and to witness busy restaurants and a lively street scene. Thanks to the project architect, Corina Tuna, our client Simon Pitkeathley, Georgina Street and Eve Gilmour, Patrick Jones and David Edwards London Borough of Camden and Cuttle Construction Limited. #highstreetregeneration, #drummondstreet

Works are progressing well on site at our Meanwhile Creative Quarter. The project will bring workspace, community space and exhibition space to Harrow, contributing to high street diversification, supporting the night time economy and bringing life to an underused corner of town. Three small buildings frame a new communal courtyard for socialising, recreation and cultural activity. The need to reduce embodied carbon is particularly pressing for temporary buildings. We have developed a three-pronged strategy to reduce the impact of our project. We maximised usable floorspace by eliminating all internal circulation. We used a generic, small-scale typology for the buildings making it easier to find a new site for them when our tenure in Harrow is up. And we used shipping containers and an agricultural building system that are genuinely demountable and reusable. Sullivan Bros (Construction) Ltd are on track to complete works at the end of the year with our partners Meanwhile Space CIC taking over for set-up and operation in 2025.

What to do with a masterplan that lacks both public support and external investment? That was the situation in Kingswood when we started work there last spring. The masterplan had attracted town centre regeneration founding from the West of England Combined Authority. Yet, the funding was insufficient to deliver the transformation that it envisaged. The masterplan relied heavily on private sector investment, including demolition and re-building and it lacked ideas for the more granular, small scale improvements that address the eye level experience of the town centre, responding to the needs of local people. Six months and many conversations later, our Kingswood Place Plan and Shopfronts Strategy are complete. The two complementary documents shift emphasis away from big, complex development and instead put forward a family of down-to-earth repairs to buildings, spaces and places that can be implemented with available funding. The proposals remove dependencies and hand control back to local people and the local authority. We know from other projects that this approach will not only bring transformative change but that it will also mobilise the private sector as physical improvements start to increase investor confidence. JKA have successfully delivered 30+ high street regeneration programs. Our experience of implementing town centre regeneration means that our strategic proposals are viable and deliver the transformative impact that local people are hoping for.

We have been working on plans for upgrading two libraries in Cambridgeshire to create adaptable, co-managed spaces that enable the community to connect, share, create and discover. Works at March are now complete and Cambridge Central Library is about to start on site. Even in the digital age, books remain an important source of knowledge and inspiration for communities. But, we know from local people we have been working with that libraries also need to respond to broader educational and social needs. Everyspace increases digital inclusion and fosters community building. A series of large, mobile toolboxes provide professional facilities for sound recording, photography or video editing with a wrap around mentoring programme delivered by the amazing team at 20Twenty Productions CIC (not for profit) . Stage lighting and theatre curtains transform Everyspace into a small theatre or ad-hoc cinema. And in the mornings cuppa & company brings people from the village together to meet without agenda. Thank you to Arts Council England for providing funding, to our client, Luke Oakes and his team for having the vision and determination to see the project through, to AM System Limited for their craftsmanship fabricating the modules and to project architect, Gareth Marriott for the creative concept and technical resolution.

When a #placemaking project is a success, you can just tell. It is humbling to see when our interventions make people’s lives better, be it from a social, environmental, economic or educational point of view - or any combination of these! It is even more humbling to look at projects, and wonder what could, or should, have happened to have their full potential realised. So what makes a placemaking project a success - or what does not ? As part of Placemaking Week, I will be discussing with Andrew Shaw, Sven Kohlschmidt, and Giulia Gualtieri how to identify risks and learn from past experience in order to produce exceptional project outcomes for students and professionals alike. If you are in Rotterdam and want to find out more, join our session at Kellepand Cube ( main hall ) on Thursday 26th Sept @11.45 am. Hope to see you there - or in London! More details here : https://lnkd.in/e_jjTkSJ Placemaking Europe Jan Kattein Architects

We can’t wait to see you all on Saturday, 11AM-4PM at Angel Yard for this year’s Open House Festival! 🙌🏽 . Join a walking tour by Jan Kattein Architects of these former unused, derelict garages transformed into a sustainably built business and community hub as part of Enfield Council’s regeneration efforts as well as the Living Room Library and the Wild Street. You can also enjoy public artworks and an upcycling workshop by local artists too.☀️ . 👉🏽 More info at https://lnkd.in/ggVbYvEx & https://lnkd.in/gSJCYgCc. See you there! . . . #londonopenhouse #openhousefestival #angelyard