Combining the sharp heat of chilli with the natural sweetness of chocolate results in an unexpected but successful depth and richness.  We believe that the intelligent combination of apparently incompatible building uses into new co-location typologies can also deliver unexpected social and economic benefits.

The Urban Challenge

Co-location has the power to build smarter and more efficient cities that provide innovative spatial solutions to the increasing demand for both industrial and residential space. The last few years have been marked by increasingly urgent debates surrounding the housing shortage crisis, changes in traditional retail practices, the surge in e-commerce, the challenges of distributing goods to urban consumers, the pressure on supply chains and how these issues intertwine. London needs to manage both residential and industrial space provision to continue to grow economically while maintaining the quality of life of its growing population: industrial intensification and co-location need to be made to work.

Anticipating the Future

At Chetwoods, we anticipated early on that this combination of factors would create rapidly rising competing demands. We sought industry input on the challenges, opportunities, and constraints within this fast-evolving market to help us arrive at exemplar typologies for the co-location of uses that enable live and work communities to co-exist harmoniously in the context of extreme pressure on land-supply.

We are looking at logistics at different scales including residential, retail, recreational, cultural and social spaces. We are designing and delivering ultra-urban warehouses on previously unviable city centre sites, refurbishing old industrial heritage buildings for modern day logistics and industrial use and blending existing and new buildings on SIL land.

A Multi-faceted Approach

Our in-house research analysed different SIL types from multiple points of view, to gauge the practical, contextual and commercial potential for these new multi-use combinations in the context of the London Plan 2021’s requirement ‘to intensify and make more efficient use of land in strategic industrial locations’.

Over the last few years, we have worked with the Greater London Authority on a series of Industrial Intensification studies to look at the acceptability of industrial intensification and co-location with residential, and test the viability and deliverability of various typologies. These pilot studies achieved 65% plot density through multi-storey typologies that challenge traditional perceptions around integrating logistics and industrial uses into residential contexts.

Industry Perspectives

To gauge the views of the industry, we recently conducted a survey of UK sector experts to which over 100 developers, agents, consultants, occupiers and industry professionals contributed.

Their responses provided some interesting results in terms of perceptions, constraints, and time frames in the evolution of the industrial intensification sector, including over 70% of respondents who would consider living close to an industrial intensification scheme which co-located industrial and residential uses.

This is a strong positive response that we may not have seen a few years ago, indicating a greater understanding of how different uses can successfully be co-located.

Designing the Future

New, integrated typologies can be a co-location of uses within a building, an individual site or a broader neighbourhood. We have created an exemplar industrial intensification concept design for co-locating residential and industrial uses, and we are now working with a range of developers to receive their feedback.  

The key residential-use considerations in our approach to the project were community engagement and bringing a community together, while encouraging and supporting attitude and behavioural changes towards a new co-location typology. Affordability of purchase, running and maintenance were also important factors.

The disposition of uses in the design model reflects good neighbour practices, including how public and private amenities are located, with careful consideration of factors such as noise, light and smell. Strong environmental and biodiversity elements run throughout the scheme. The industrial element is designed to achieve net zero carbon in operation, optimise energy efficiency, reduce running costs and improve energy security.

A Collaborative Future

Collaboration between industrial and residential architects and developers is a key factor in pushing these new typologies forward, ensuring that the designs of different uses are optimised. Solutions will look different each time to accommodate different combinations of uses – with cleverly designed multi-level solutions juxtaposing residential, workplace, education, recreation and even life sciences above a working base of logistics.

As urban landscapes evolve, the chocolate and chilli combination of co-locating residential and industrial spaces emerges as a promising model. Through collaborative design, extensive research, and innovative thinking, we envisage a future where bespoke combinations address the unique challenges of each urban setting, ultimately creating vibrant and sustainable communities.