Towards a better deal for Tottenham Hale, Haringey – London Borough of Haringey with Allies and Morrison, Adams and Sutherland, Kinnear Landscape Architects, Levitt Bernstein, Land Use Consultants, Adams and Sutherland

Who is on the project team? 

Council-led regeneration programme working with multiple developers and consultants. Details of developers can be supplied if requested.

Strategies:

Tottenham Hale DCF: Allies and Morrison for Haringey Council

Tottenham Hale Streets and Spaces: Adams and Sutherland for Haringey Council

Tottenham Hale Green and Open Spaces: Kinnear Landscape Architects for Haringey Council

Key projects:

Down Lane Park: Levitt Bernstein

The Paddock: Land Use Consultants

Chesnut Road Phase 1: Adams and Sutherland

Ferry Lane: Project Centre

Tottenham Hale Public Realm Improvements: Adams and Sutherland (concept) and Project Centre (developed design and delivery)

Describe the context of this project and the point it has reached in its development. When is the project expected to complete? 

Tottenham Hale is undergoing a transition to deliver a better deal for its community. Our Placemaking Approach seeks to Listen, Collaborate and Agree the priorities, planning and delivery of interventions together with the community, recognising that local people, businesses and stakeholders know more about their area than anyone else. 

Strategically located in the Upper Lee Valley, Tottenham Hale is one of London’s opportunity areas. Its many assets include strategic transport connections, its proximity to the Lee Valley Regional Park, a growing creative sector and its diverse and tight-knit community. 

Extensive engagement with our communities helped shape the vision for Tottenham Hale set out in the 2015 District Centre Framework. Investment in affordable housing, social and physical infrastructure, cleaner greener streets, a more cohesive centre with a greater variety of shops and leisure offer, access to employment and better access to green spaces all emerged as clear priorities. 

Current status (delivery phase 2019/20 to 2024/25)

- Over 3,200 new homes consented, (over 2,500 on-site or completed)

- On target to reach 40% affordable housing, over half of which is affordable rent (including over 550 new Council homes)

- New district health centre secured

- New community hub proposed

- 35,000sqm new employment and commercial space secured

- Skills, training, jobs and apprenticeships for local residents

- Enhanced transport interchange

- Major capital programme delivering streets and greenspace enhancements across the neighbourhood with new walking and cycling infrastructure and better connections to the Lea Valley.

How are you seeking to foster community, welcome visitors and attract tenants? How are you responding to changing demographics, behaviour, market context, policy, transport habits and the climate crisis since winning planning? 

In the context of the pandemic, cost-of-living crisis and climate emergency, the role of well planned, used and managed public space will be fundamental to maintaining environmental and social resilience for future generations. 

The Tottenham Hale Green and Open Spaces Strategy (KLA, 2016) aimed to grow and enhance a green network stretching from Tottenham High Road to the Lee Valley, improving access to open space through active travel and clean air corridors, set within a series of linked ecology, biodiversity and SuDS interventions.

Since the strategy was developed, activation has become central to our approach: working with the community to shape the development, use and management of key open spaces. This will ensure that our greenspaces are vibrant, inclusive, accessible and create an invitation for all local people to explore and enjoy all parts of the neighbourhood, existing and new. Four new Council housing developments situated within the green network, will further improve equality of access to open space for Council tenants.

Earlier phases of the strategy have delivered public green routes across private land; new bridges across the waterways; and greening of the public highway. Two of our major open spaces, The Paddock and Down Lane Park, will act as anchors in the green network. Activity in these spaces will help to draw people to and through Tottenham Hale, enabling them to interact with the town centre, experience the vibrant creative quarters and discover more of Tottenham’s history and heritage.

What is your sustainability strategy and how are you mitigating carbon use and construction pollution? 

In 2019 Haringey Council declared a Climate Emergency: our Climate Change Action Plan sets out the actions required for the borough to become net zero by 2041. In addition to measures being implemented on individual sites, our focus for carbon mitigation is in four primary areas.

The Tottenham Hale Construction Logistics Programme ensures contractors collaborate in a planned and coordinated way, to minimise the impact of construction on the local area. This encompasses a requirement through site CEMP’s for FORS Silver accreditation of the construction fleet, driving up standards in fuel efficiency, carbon emissions and road safety, alongside work with pollution and ASB teams to ensure dust suppression measures are implemented. Key stakeholders attend regular Forum meetings to share information, best practice and lessons learnt with a view to reducing disruption and environmental impact.

A Decentralised Energy Network at Tottenham Hale is proposed as a means of connecting households in new developments to low carbon heat sources. The first phase of this network is currently under construction.

Improvements to public transport and active travel are coming online with major investment in healthy streets, gyratory removal, and improvements to the transport interchange at the heart of the district centre.

The green network helps to protect and enhance the Borough’s biodiversity and habitats and implement SuDS, aided with the receipt of funding through the Mayor’s Green and Resilient Spaces Programme for Down Lane Park. This contributes to the Council’s ability to mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency.

Describe the social impact of the project: How is this place contributing to the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of its citizens? 

Haringey is the 4th most deprived borough in London, with deprivation concentrated in the north-east (including Tottenham Hale). With significant gaps in healthy life expectancy between populations in the Borough, the objective of reducing inequality is at the heart of how we work with all our communities.

Our flagship open space improvement projects, Down Lane Park and The Paddock, are being developed in partnership with the community, putting local needs and aspirations at the heart of proposals and giving residents a stake in decision making. 

Working in collaboration with voluntary and community sector partners, Living Under One Sun (LUOS) and The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), these projects provide opportunities for local people to build confidence through volunteering; learn about the natural environment, food growing and horticulture; develop green skills and pathways to green employment.

Through both projects we are targeting the barriers that deter some of our residents from using parks and open spaces, enabling more people to enjoy spending time outdoors and access the health and wellbeing benefits that can bring. In the Paddock Nature Reserve, TCV have run dedicated sessions to broaden the user-base, working with Youth Justice and Paybacks; We2 Foundation (empowering underprivileged young people) and Haringey Welcome (refugee support) amongst others.

Through these partnerships and other smaller projects across Tottenham Hale, we are growing a network of resilient citizens actively participating in shaping their neighbourhood, upskilling local people, under-represented groups and young people and supporting a local green economy.