Planning
Crossrail
Urben acted as Town Planning Advisor to Crossrail for the central London stations of Whitechapel; Farringdon; Tottenham Court Road; Bond Street; and Paddington, our role was to provide technical advice, stakeholder engagement, project management, and quality assurance services. Working client side, we reviewed the progress of contractor teams and liaised with local planning authorities to ensure that conditions for planning and heritage aspects of the stations were resolved in accordance with the Crossrail Act (2008).
Thames Tideway
London’s 150-year old combined sewage and rainwater system is currently servicing millions more people than it was designed for, leading to the River Thames being polluted by over 39 million tonnes of sewage annually. The Thames Tideway Tunnel is a £4.2bn Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project to construct a 25.1km long tunnel beneath the River Thames that connects to existing infrastructure at 24 locations and is capable of diverting waste to an expanded treatment facility. Urben worked in a multi-consultant team to successfully secure Development Consent for the project. Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore and Albert Embankment Foreshore were our primary responsibility, each of which posed unique challenges including proximity to Grade II listed properties, complex stakeholder interests and constructing within the river itself. At both sites the proposed infrastructure is to be concealed beneath new landscaped spaces built into the foreshore, at Blackfriars Bridge the design by Fereday Pollard will provide almost 5,000 sqm of new public realm.
Wood Street Walls
Wood Street Walls (WSW) is a Community Interest Company (CIC) who bring together artists to create artworks for public and private sector clients, mostly large scale outdoor murals (photo of ATMA by Joe O'Malley). To provide a dedicated space for artists and the community, WSW raised over £38,000 in donations to fund the upgrade of a former manual instruction centre in Walthamstow. A total of 169 individuals and organisations backed the fundraising initiative through Spacehive, with the largest donation of £18,000 coming from the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund. Urben provided WSW with development consent services on a pro-bono basis, enabling them to secure planning permission for a change of use. Now up and running, the centre is providing studio space for local artists; giving children and young adults the opportunity to learn different skills; and a hub for local business to commission original artwork for their shops.
National Trust
Acting as a town planning consultant, we prepared and managed applications for new development, wrote policy representations and responded to planning consultations for National Trust properties in Surrey, London, Berkshire, Bucks and Oxfordshire. Prepared application documents (including planning statement and design and access statement) for visitor centre at Standen and a change of use at 575 Wandsworth Road. Also prepared written representations on behalf of the National Trust for proposed student housing developments by Kings College London behind The George Inn, Southwark and Dapdune Wharf near the River Wey in Guildford, Surrey.
Local Authorities
Urben provides urban planning and development services, primarily development consent management for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and strategic spatial master planning. We have also advised the London Boroughs of Redbridge, Ealing, Havering and Haringey on their assessment of complex applications and are experienced in providing the following services:
Pre-application advice.
Stakeholder and applicant negotiations.
Public consultation.
Representation at planning appeal.
Application assessment and report writing.
Spatial strategies & frameworks.