AECOM-led team to prepare the Old Oak masterplan

An AECOM-led multidisciplinary team has won the competition to prepare the Old Oak masterplan, north-west London. The project to be let by the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC) underpins the redevelopment of the wider area which has the potential to deliver 25,500 new homes and 65,000 jobs across Old Oak and the adjoining Park Royal industrial estate.

The development at Old Oak will be a transformative project for London, twice the scale of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Old Oak is one of London’s largest and most strategic opportunity areas at the point where High Speed 2 (HS2) and Crossrail meet. It will become the best connected site in the capital, being a 10-minute journey from London’s West End and 10-minutes of check-in at London Heathrow.  HS2 will also enable people to get from Old Oak to Birmingham in 40 minutes, as well as providing excellent connectivity to the UK Northern Powerhouse cities.

AECOM has brought together a broad multidisciplinary team, with includes Jason Prior and Maccreanor Lavington, who worked together to develop the Olympic Park and Legacy Masterplans in east London, and leading design collaborators, which include Asif Khan, BIG, Spacehub and Weston Williamson to unlock this unique opportunity. AECOM will anchor the team to deliver design and technical expertise to meet the OPDC’s challenging brief.

The team will work collaboratively with the OPDC and the Mayor’s team to deliver a masterplan that will lay the foundations for an inspiring new place, created from the industrial and rail-backlands in the heart of West London, whilst also stitching Old Oak into the local neighbourhoods and communities, and contributing to the mayor’s focus of accelerated delivery of affordable homes.

Andrew Jones, practice leader, design, planning and economics, AECOM said: “The AECOM-led team is delighted to have been selected to work with OPDC and key stakeholders to develop this significant masterplan for London, against a competition shortlist from London’s most talented and experienced design community.   We very much look forward to getting started and unlocking the challenges of this strategic London site.

“The appointment continues AECOM’s engagement in London’s premier infrastructure and transformative urban regeneration schemes. It reinforces the team’s combined ability to handle masterplans which can successfully blend urban development and infrastructure in complex urban situations with design flair, coherence and deliverability.”

Jason Prior of JPA commented:  “Unlocking the potential of Old Oak will be the real challenge.  Successfully bringing together the public and private-sector players involved will be important which we look forward to doing alongside OPDC.  It will be critical to balance the hidden natural assets of this location, its fantastic accessibility and the richness of local communities to build a sustainable and deliverable plan for Old Oak to contribute to the next 20 years of growth in the capital”

The AECOM-led team will start work in June.