Matrix Partnership was appointed at the beginning of 2010 by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LTH) to carry out a planning, technical and design review of a regeneration project on land owned by the LBTH and by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). The 7-hectare site is immediately north of the Isle of Dogs in London Docklands, adjacent to the entrance of the Blackwall Tunnel and includes Robin Hood Gardens, a public housing complex designed by the Peter and Alison Smithson and built in 1972.

The proposed scheme had had a long gestation period, design work having started in 2004 with little subsequent alteration to the concept. This was in spite of the fact that the key constraint to development had been removed when English Heritage granted immunity from listing for Robin Hood Gardens in 2009.

The scheme proposed a single, large-scale, perimeter block with towers of up to 40-storeys at the southern edge of the site adjacent to the Blackwall Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Station in contrast with the low-rise development, characteristic of the area. The perimeter block defined a large area of public open space that replaced the existing Jubilee Gardens and housed a proposed, subterranean primary school.

Matrix Partnership developed 4 alternative development options and undertook an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each of the 5 scenarios, demonstrating that there were clear alternatives to the proposed scheme that offered:

•    a better fit with the context
•    a much reduced reliance on single-aspect dwellings
•    the elimination of expensive subterranean parking
•    an above ground primary school
•    the potential for an increase in new homes provided
•    a form of development that is easier to implement in discrete phases

Material generated by Matrix Partnership was incorporated in the tender package issued to prospective short-listed developers to illustrate a range of possible and acceptable urban forms that might be developed further as the basis of their tender submissions. After a rigorous procurement process, LBTH and the HCA selected Countryside properties and Swan Housing Association as their preferred development partners and they are developing detailed proposals for the site in consultation with the existing residents.