Creating Great Places
Creating Great Places
All images in this book are the copyright of JTP unless otherwise stated A JTP Press publication All rights reserved © 2019 JTP JTP Studios Unit 5, The Rum Warehouse Pennington Street London E1W 2AP www.jtp.co.uk A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-9573093-5-7 Printed by Oldacres, London Cover illustration by David ‘Harry’ Harrison
Creating Great Places
Introduction Community Engagement Placemaking International Placemaking Institutional Innovation Commendations
Introduction
Introduction
John Thompson MA DipArch RIBA AoU
John Thompson is an architect and urbanist with a 50 year career devoted to improving the quality of everyday life in neighbourhoods across the UK and in Europe. Trained as an architect at Cambridge University during the 1960s, John is a thoughtful, charismatic and highly motivated urbanist who rejected the prevailing view of the architect as heroic ‘form-maker’ early in his career, and pursued instead an altruistic agenda, working directly with local people to create places that encourage social interaction and help nurture a strong sense of community. To achieve his goal, John has worked tirelessly, developing new ideas and pioneering innovative approaches to placemaking that have challenged professional beliefs and self-serving development practices.
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Born
7 February 1944
Leamington Spa
BA DipArch
1963 - 1969
Cambridge University School of Architecture
MA DipArch
1971
Cambridge University School of Architecture
Founding Partner
1969 - 1994
Hunt Thompson Associates
Founder Trustee
1986
The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture
Founder Member
1992 - 1999
Urban Villages Forum
Founder Chairman
1994 - present
John Thompson & Partners / JTP LLP
Panel Member
2001 - 2011
Yorkshire Forward’s Urban Rural Renaissance Panel
Chairman/Vice Chairman
2004 - 2009
RIBA Planning and Urbanism Group
Founder Chairman
2006 - 2010
The Academy of Urbanism
Honorary President
2010 - present
The Academy of Urbanism
Presidential Citation
2019
The American Institute of Architects
Lifetime Achievement Award
2019
Urban Design Group
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Introduction
Urban Design Group, National Urban Design Awards 2019, Lifetime Achievement Award
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Dear John, It has been three decades since the historic Remaking Cities Conference in Pittsburgh and the Monongahela Valley R/ UDAT that was an instrumental part of the event. It is extraordinary to recall how your participation in the bi-national team which led that R/ UDAT process sparked a pioneering effort to introduce community-based planning processes to the UK and elsewhere as a tool for bringing about sustainable development and urban regeneration.
We salute your decades of commitment to participatory design and urbanism. Your work to introduce the democratic ideals of community planning to cities across Europe, China and Russia has left a lasting impact that will help us meet the collective urban challenges of the 21st century. Under your leadership, JTP has become a global leader in participatory practices.
Your work to found the Academy of Urbanism in 2006 as a learning hub created a worldwide network of professionals that has had a singular impact on this field of work.
With deep appreciation for your years of dedicated service to the architectural profession, and the lasting legacy of participatory urban design you have helped spread across the world, I am pleased to confer upon you this Presidential Citation. William J. Bates, FAIA 2019 AIA President
Presidential Citation
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Introduction
Private Practice 1969 - 1994
Community Architecture 1980
1994 - 1999
Community Planning 1990
Community Engagement Placemaking
Urban Villages Forum 1985
Pittsburgh Charrette American Institute of Architects 1988
Institutional Innovation ECO-1 Moscow European Academy of the Urban Environment 1990 10
Caterham Barracks 1998
2000 - 2009
2010 - 2014
Yorkshire Forward Urban Renaissance 2000
International Placemaking
2015 - Present
Placemaking Strategy 2010
The Freiburg Charter 2008
JTP China Studio Established 2011
The Academy of Urbanism 2005
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Introduction
JTP Innovation timeli
Innovation Timeline
Community Community Architecture Architecture 1980 1980-
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Urban Villages 1985-
Urban Villages 1985 -
Community Planning Community 1990 -
Planning 1990-
Urban Renaissanc 2000-
placebook Battersea Power Station
Urban Identity LEARNING FROM PLACE 2 01 LfP 2 toc.indd 1
Scarborough Renaissance Charter
Urban Renaissance 2000 -
The Academy of Urbanism 2005 -
30/8/10 11:56:12
Placemaking Strategy 2010 -
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Community Engagement
Community Engagement
John Thompson has contributed in a unique way to improving the lives of people through his pioneering approaches to community engagement which have allowed local people to play a meaningful role in the design and development of their neighbourhoods. Involving local people in the development process has been written into legislation (through Localism and the NPPF), and is now a required part of every planning application. But at the start of his career, John’s approach was very much against the perceived wisdom that the planning authority and professionals knew best. Since his initial successes working to turn around communities devastated by the ill-conceived social housing projects of the 1960s and 70s, John has continued to adapt, develop and refine his ideas – and engage with more than 50,000 ordinary people in estate refurbishment, urban renewal, community reconciliation, inner city redevelopment, masterplanning, resolution of planning deadlock and international development. The following is a brief overview of the different areas of community engagement in which John Thompson has made a significant contribution to the everyday lives of people across the UK and in Europe.
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Community Engagement
Lea View House Hackney, London
Widely recognised as a seminal community architecture project, Lea View House in Hackney, London was a sink-estate with very high levels of crime, anti-social behaviour, and mental health problems when John was tasked with leading a programme of repairs. Shocked by the severity of problems encountered by the residents in their day to day life, John opened an office on the site and created techniques to allow residents to participate in planning how the estate could be successfully transformed – building social capital and stewardship in the process. Writing about the final outcome, renowned architectural correspondent for The Times, Charles Knevitt, stated ‘Pride, dignity and self-respect have been restored at Lea View, and Community Architecture was the process by which it came about.’
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Community Engagement
Lea View House, Enterprise Awards
Lea View House,Walkabout 20
Lea View House, Award Ceremony
Lea View House,Walkabout 21
Community Engagement
Inner City Regeneration London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham
The success of his pioneering approach at Lea View House led to John being asked to lead a series of inner city regeneration projects over the following decade. These projects were located in a wide range of socially and economically deprived inner-city and peripheral housing estates in London (Camden, Hackney, Brixton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest), Liverpool, Castle Vale (Birmingham) and Hulme (Manchester). In every instance, John’s irrepressible belief in the ability of individuals to control their own destiny, his desire to recover and harness community spirit, and his creation of innovative practical techniques for achieving these goals empowered local people to be capable of the bold and difficult decision-making that is required to bring about comprehensive regeneration. As John gained national recognition for ‘Community Planning’ in the UK as a new discipline for engaging local people in the design and transformation of their own neighbourhoods, he sought to share his insights with others in an effort to broaden participation. In lectures, presentations and a number of publications including the ‘Community Planning Handbook’ and ‘Action Planning Handbook’ (both written in collaboration with Nick Wates) John has worked tirelessly to ensure others can benefit from his experience and innovation. Maiden Lane, Community Planning Weekend
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Hillview Residents Association
European Conservation Awards
The Times Community Enterprise Scheme Awards 23
Community Engagement
Maiden Lane Estate 24
Maiden Lane, Community Planning Weekend 25
Community Engagement
Poundbury Planning Weekend Dorchester
In June 1989, John was appointed by the Duchy of Cornwall to undertake a Community Planning Weekend for Poundbury. Poundbury had been identified by the local planning authority to be the site of an expansion of Dorchester. A masterplan had been prepared by LĂŠon Krier. The aim of the community planning weekend was to assess reaction and comment on the masterplan from the local community and assembled professional experts. The event, from the 15th to the 19th June 1989, included workshops, an exhibition of the masterplan and model, and a public presentation. Nearly 30 years later, the ambitions and aspirations to create a new community at Poundbury has been realised.
Poundbury Planning Weekend Document Cover
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The Poundbury Community Planning Weekend, 15th-19th June 1989 27
Community Engagement
Public Housing to Public Houses Samuel Smith Brewery
Hindle House
The Chandos for Samuel Smith 28
HTA Pub Team
The Chandos for Samuel Smith 29
Community Engagement
Bishopsgate Goods Yard Planning Weekend London The Bishopsgate Goods Yard Community Planning Weekend (CPW) held in November 1988 was the first to be carried out by Hunt Thompson Associates. The closure of the Truman Brewery offered the chance to consolidate this diverse but deprived mixed-use neighbourhood by weaving it sensitively into the historic fabric around Brick Lane. The ‘melting-pot’ character of the area is epitomised by the religious building on the corner of Brick Lane and Fournier St, built as a Huguenot chapel in the 1740s before being used as a Protestant Church and, by the late 19th Century, becoming a mosque for the mainly Bengali community; the latest wave of immigrants to make it their home. During the 19th Century the area became a place of refuge from the pogroms in eastern Europe for a thriving Jewish community. The CPW was a lively affair, held at a stage when the Community Planning team itself was still feeling its way and, as ever, there were outcomes that could not have been predicted. Communities often feel powerless in the face of pressure from big-business, and at Bishopsgate the locals reacted against an illustration of a 25-storey office tower that they felt would be too high. But their opinions took a 180o turn when the concept of ‘Planning Gain’ was explained, and suddenly they wanted the tower to be taller, as they had realised that the extra floorspace would generate additional revenue for the local community. Another learning moment for the team was that Bengali wedding ceremonies require the bride to arrive by elephant and to dismount from the howdah onto an upper floor balcony. To reach the venue, processions would need to pass through an archway of limited height under a listed building; this was the point at which it was realised that the UK’s AJ Metric Handbook did not have all the answers.
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A Vision for Bishopsgate Goods Yard
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Community Engagement
King’s Cross Planning Weekend London
The new, mixed-use neighbourhood at King’s Cross today serves as an exemplar for inner-city regeneration, but in 1990 its future was far from certain. With the imposing Victorian buildings unused and sitting in what had become a wasteland with concrete batching silos behind it, there were competing ideas as to how best to unlock the site’s potential. Norman Foster’s plan for a huge park overlooked by offices, including two tall towers at the northern end, dubbed as ‘two fingers to the community”, served as a catalyst for a community-led initiative, run by Hunt Thompson Associates. No one lived on the site itself, but communities living in barges moored along the Regents Canal, and others from all sides of the no-go site, were determined to have their say. Strident views were expressed about the site’s future, and a key point of contention was how ‘the spoils’ should be shared, as the site straddles the boundary between the London boroughs of Camden and Islington. Dilemmas needed to be overcome such as the route for Eurostar trains to get to St Pancras Station, as environmentalists were determined to retain and enhance the Camley St Nature Park that stood in its way. Economists from the Bartlett School of Architecture advised that 3,000,000 ft2 of commercial space would be required to finance the project, which was interpreted by some design team members, contentiously, as a high-rise option. Another group adopted the more urbanist ‘ground-scraper’ approach as shown in the aerial perspective. King’s Cross Planning Weekend Document Cover
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Community Engagement
Shankill and Crumlin Road West Belfast
Between the 1994 IRA Ceasefire and the 1999 Good Friday Agreement, John was asked to lead a series of projects to build capacity in the communities of West Belfast, which at the time were amongst the most socially deprived in the United Kingdom. Working with local communities including the Greater Shankill Partnership, he facilitated the creation of a Vision and Action plan for the Shankill Road, which was instrumental in securing large-scale investment into the area from the UK, European Union, United States and other international funding sources. An even greater challenge was presented by the highly-contested Crumlin Road area of West Belfast, a flashpoint of sectarian violence during ‘The Troubles’ and continued location of social tension. John was entrusted with leadership of a six month, cross-community capacity building process developing a consensus-led Vision for the future of this contested area. This replaced the Northern Ireland Office’s original concept for a highways-led ‘peace-line’ with a multi-functional street of shared activities that would benefit both communities, including proposals for the transformation of the Crumlin Road Gaol and Courthouse into shared cultural facilities. Later projects carried out under John’s leadership aimed at cross-community reconciliation included Springvale Education Village on the interface of the Catholic Falls Road and Protestant Shankill Road, and voluntary facilitation of West Belfast youth to help them articulate their needs and hopes for the future, in annual meetings with the political parties of Northern Ireland. A Vision for Crumlin Road
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John Thompson came to the Shankill Road, Crumlin and Ballysillan area some 20 years ago when the area had been badly affected by the on-going ‘Troubles’. We had seen our area devastated by a number of things i.e. troubles (on-going violence), unemployment and redevelopment, and an area once very proud of its history was rapidly losing what it once was. The Greater Shankill Partnership (recently founded) had worked hard to put a plan together but really was in need of some extra expertise, and that is when John Thompson & Partners came to our area to offer this help.
John helped raise a belief that local people could make a difference in their own areas, and he showed this could be achieved by innovation and leadership.
One of the hardest things to raise in working within areas such as the Greater Shankill/Crumlin is the confidence of local people to be able to take on the work required, but...
John certainly made a huge contribution to solving the problems which had to be solved, and in doing so, has left a lasting legacy to the work within this community. Baroness May Blood M.B.E
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Community Engagement
The Village at Caterham Barracks Caterham-on-the-Hill, Surrey Having gained recognition for community-led development approaches from local neighbourhood groups, local authorities and regional/national government, John switched his attention in the late 1990s to convincing the private sector of the benefits of this approach. Having experienced first-hand the hostile situations in which local communities fought against ill-conceived proposals for their neighbourhoods, John used his professional influence and considerable skills of persuasion to get private developers to engage with local communities.
Awards Building Awards (2006) Major Housing Project of the Year Building for Life Gold Standard Award (2005) The Deputy Prime Minister’s Award for Sustainable Communities (2003) Finalist The European Urban & Regional Planning Awards (2002) Award Winner RTPI National Awards for Planning Achievement (2000) Award for Planning for the Whole Community
Working with enlightened developer Linden Homes at the former Caterham Barracks, John led a participatory process involving over 1,000 local people, which secured the future of the listed buildings and also delivered over £5m of community benefits, including an arts centre, crèche, community business, indoor skate park now used by 6,000 teenagers, subsidised bus routes, village green with cricket pitches and new football grounds. All of these were placed in a Community Development Trust endowed with buildings prime pumping finance.
British Urban Regeneration Awards (2000) Community Award
The Village at Caterham Barracks, Community Planning Weekend Flyer
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Community Engagement
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My name is Marilyn and I am a volunteer at the Skaterham Youth Organisation, which came into being because of an event held after the sale of Caterham Army Barracks to a developer in 1998. To set the scene I will describe our community, such as it was, before John came along. Caterham-on-the-Hill was a small army town with the Barracks and the large un-inhabited St Lawrence’s Hospital (a former mental institution) dominating the western side of the hill and backing onto Happy Valley, which is part of the green belt. One didn’t enter the hospital or the barracks so this side of Caterham Hill was off-limits to any community interaction. Part of St Lawrence’s was sold to developers and two large housing estates were built. When Caterham Barracks was sold to yet more developers I and like-minded people were horrified, believing the infrastructure would be compromised with yet another large housing estate. We, people from the local community and surrounding areas, were invited to a Community Planning Weekend to be held in the Barracks. Firstly we were given the grand tour of the barracks and for many of us who had lived here for many years this was the first time inside the walls! Then we were shown into the Naffi and it was there that I first met John.
He created and presented the most amazing vision of how the development of the Barracks could unfold. Where we had expected yet another ‘housing estate’ with as many houses packed in as possible, he described a village with housing, work facilities, shops, leisure facilities and green spaces.
Together with his staff he led us through a planning weekend where they began to design the future of the barracks, taking our input and ideas and putting them into a design proposal that was innovative, sustainable and most importantly would make a difference to our community. Because of John and his entrepreneurship, Skaterham Skatepark was born and has become one of the best youth facilities in the country, attended by 4-500 young people weekly and visited from as far as Australia. Because of John we have cricket on the green, a doctor’s surgery, the ARC with its licensed bistro, an exhibition space and a whole range of diverse entertainments, training, classes in drama, music, art, health and fitness and so much more.
I can honestly say that John made a difference to our community. His inspirational presentation, his commitment and determination leading us through the planning stages has given the people of Caterham a place for all of the community, not just another ‘housing estate’. I believe the Caterham Barracks development was one of the first community driven developments and that John has been an ambassador for more such developments all over the country. Indeed, he has brought other communities with similar circumstances to visit and see what can actually be achieved. Had I not been a part of the process right through to the finish I may well have been sceptical that John’s vision was just that, a vision. I know now that John not only delivers on his visions but is passionate in his quest to give other communities a better quality of life.
Marilyn Payne MBE, Project Co-Ordinator
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Community Engagement
The Village at Caterham Barracks, a Royal Visit 40
In 1991, I formed Linden Homes with the main aim of redeveloping brownfield sites for new homes and in effect building something better and improving the local environment. Brownfield development as government policy didn’t happen until 1997 so Linden were perceived by their peers and planning authorities as ahead of their time. In 1997 Linden Homes bought Caterham Barracks which had been vacated by the Guards’ Regiments earlier in the year. We put together a planning team based on the need to communicate and engage with all interested parties; be they former guardsmen, historians, local residents or businesses, as well as the public sector including the NHS, Tandridge District Council and Surrey County Council. We shortlisted four architectural practices and asked them to explain their ideas for the redevelopment of the barracks. At our first meeting John Thompson stood out as the visionary who could see the potential of the opportunity and was determined to deliver it. His vision for community involvement in the creative reuse of the historic site was connected to our desire for brownfield development. That first meeting was followed by visual and personal presentations by John to officers and elected members of Tandridge DC, and then a Community Planning Weekend was held inside the Caterham Barracks in March 1998.
John Thompson was ‘a breath of fresh air’; an enthusiast who portrayed a vision of a new community designed around a sense of place and the historical roots of the barracks. The barracks had once been a local facility with open use of the swimming pool, Officers’ Mess and cinema for local residents. This access was lost with the security lockdown implemented in 1975 following the IRA bombing of the Caterham Arms located opposite the barracks. John Thompson coined the saying ‘The troops move out and the people move in’. There was no mention of developers, homes, jobs or traffic problems, but an enthusiasm for inviting the locals in to see the old buildings, reminisce, and work with his team during the weekend on a series of workshops to develop a vision for the re-integration of the barracks into the local community.
Over 1,000 people participated in the weekend, many initially slow to get involved in workshop discussions but eventually standing up to chair them, encouraged by John to express their thoughts. That vision, condensed from the workshop groups, was fed back by John a few days later in a two hour presentation that was enthusiastic, focussed but readily understandable to the lay person. No questions were aired as to the complete amazement of the audience John had demonstrated the ability to balance what the local people wanted with the commercial reality of new development to pay for it. John presented a birds-eye view of the finished development and the completed scene today bears a striking resemblance. John’s effect on the locals was so pronounced that within a month of the Community Weekend, a neighbour had set up the now nationally recognised Skaterham Skateboard Park which occupies the listed chapel. Skaterham has over 2,000 members and is used by 500 people every week. Enthused by John, local people participated in monthly feedback sessions and encouraged the delivery of privately funded medical and veterinary centres, a health club, community theatre and cafe, cricket pavilion and village cricket team. The process showed how one man’s exceptional approach could deliver a win-win for everyone. The inspiration for Caterham Barracks led to a strong Linden Homes focus on schemes which John masterminded in similar fashion on Ministry of Defence and Department of Health Estates at Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Guildford and Graylingwell Park, Chichester.
Through the first decade of the 21st century John has led his conscientious team into the hearts and minds of locals who might well otherwise have been NIMBYS, resistant to new development because of the fear of what it might bring. John inspired schemes focussed from the outset on community involvement which have become a model for the future as we all seek to build new communities that integrate with the existing; localism in a real and effective way.
Philip J Davies Founder and former Chief Executive of Linden Homes
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Community Engagement
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Community Engagement
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The Village feels like a successful and busy piece of town with a variety of housing. It is well connected to Caterham-on-the-Hill, with Caterham station, less than two miles away.
Surrounding roads make the pitch very public and are fronted by both commercial and new residential buildings. Mature trees provide further enclosure to the pitch and have been retained wherever possible.
The skilful mix of old and new, particularly in the earlier part of the scheme, and the variety of residential tenures, employment and recreation opportunities are exemplary.
Long vistas, punctuated by majestic trees are important elements of the landscape.
Opposite a new supermarket on Coulsdon Road, the former Guards’ Chapel and a new memorial signal the entrance to the Village and provide an historical link. Restored under Section 106, the cricket pitch is at the heart of the scheme, a major amenity visible to everyone entering the development.
Building for Life Judge’s Panel, 2005
I first became aware of the 16ha. site at Caterham Barracks when I was commissioned by Linden Homes to carry out an appraisal as to its planning potential.
As part of this process John Thompson & Partners, led by John himself, was the outstanding choice to prepare the “Vision’’ for the site and fully engage with the local community in the process.
The Tandridge District Council had already approved a development brief allowing for the residential conversion of the barracks and some additional limited housing/commercial development.
The approved plan, with a strong community input, resulted in a sustainable mixed development with a wide range of planning benefits to be managed by a Community development trust.
Our appraisal showed that the site had much greater potential to create a balanced community in a sustainable environment based on urban village principles.
The revitalisation of this site demonstrated the effectiveness of partnership between the private and public sectors and the local community.
Notwithstanding that this represented a significant departure from the development brief, initial discussions with officers at Tandridge indicated a willingness to consider an urban design approach for the site. This was sufficient to convince Linden Homes to purchase the site and begin the process of selecting a team to promote the development.
All public green areas, including front gardens, are maintained by a permanent landscape team.
Colm Lennon Consultant, Lennon Planning
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Community Engagement
Scarborough Urban Renaissance Scarborough John’s work in the North of England culminated in his project for Scarborough, which in the early years of the millennium was suffering severe social and economic problems, following its loss of purpose as a seaside resort and conference town. Leading a large European team of consultants, John ran his largest single participatory event with well in excess of 1,000 local people involved in the creation of a new vision for the town. Using an innovative approach to delivery involving the creation of a Charter, and a governing Town Team, Thompson’s leadership helped change the fortunes of the town, which within a decade had been awarded both UK and European Enterprise awards.
Awards European Enterprise Awards Grand Jury Prize (2009) International Association for Public Participation’s [IAP2] Core Values Awards Project of the Year (2009) The Academy of Urbanism The Great Town Award (2009) Enterprising Britain Award Winner (2008) Scarborough, Community Planning Weekend
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Community Engagement
Scarborough, Community Planning Weekend 48
Town planning, and the role of individuals and communities in the improvement of our towns and cities are amongst the most misunderstood and controversial aspects of public life. Britain has historically been recognised as the father of town planning, the new town movement and for creating forms of local government that put the citizen at the heart of decision making about their local environment. Much of this goes back to Patrick Geddes, in the 19th century, and his fundamentals of town planning, i.e. “folk, work and place.” However, in recent decades, the role of “folk” has been lost and town planning today is often a distant, bureaucratic and controversial issue, which, despite attempts at “localism”, is characterised by mistrust and conflict. John Thompson has done more than anyone else in Britain, and in other countries, to promote and practise the art of town planning as a “bottomup, people first” process where communities are directly involved in the future of their town. Much of the thinking of successive governments on these issues can be traced back to him. Whether engaged by the private or public sector, John Thompson has led the way in creating new environments or the regeneration of faded towns, through consensus building, cooperation and involvement. He has inspired many communities to resolve problems or create plans and has bridged the gap between developers and the public. With the emphasis on community planning, his consultancy is unique and unlike any other.
In Scarborough, through the “Urban Renaissance” process of 2001 to 2005, he changed the image of the town, changed the relationship between the Council and public and left strategies for the future that are still being followed. He set up a “Town Team” (much copied around the world) to bring people together and this has met monthly, ever since. The town has a new direction and purpose because of John Thompson and his team.
This type of legacy is replicated in countless other places and therefore it is safe to say that John Thompson is the foremost planner/urban designer of our time. He may not be well known in media circles, but he has made a significant impact on the thinking of governments, public bodies, developers and the public; working quietly, sensitively, with humility and integrity. In terms of influence, I would put him alongside Patrick Geddes, Patrick Abercrombie, Ebenezer Howard, Richard Rogers and the Prince of Wales.
Gordon Somerville, former Head of Planning Scarborough Borough Council
Wherever he has worked, he has left a lasting legacy, not in the form of trophy architecture, but in sustainable plans for the future, in new systems of local decision making and in new civic pride.
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Community Engagement
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A little background…The Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward, appointed director of environment Heather Hancock, a very bright and different individual with ideas to shake up the approach to urban renaissance in Yorkshire and Humber. She did just that, picking one of the best urbanists in her time, Alan Simpson and giving him a challenge of a brief to assemble together the world’s best urban professionals. Thirty or so individuals from across the globe came together to create the Urban Renaissance Panel. With my background in building and property and a love for Yorkshire I was selected in 2001 to chair them; a challenging, creative and learning experience. I came across John Thompson when he joined this panel after his work in the Upper Calder Valley, which was judged as outstanding. We all learned from the best and John was one of those who changed our world of Yorkshire. Seven towns were identified as being executively and politically positive to change, and each individual/practice was paired off and allocated a town. In John’s case he was paired with Adriaan Gueze of West 8 and the chosen town for them was Scarborough, North Yorkshire. John took the lead to create The Scarborough Charter, which was effectively an urban masterplan with phenomenal buy-in of the townsfolk, politicians and businesses, also tapping into the creative and artistic sectors the likes I have not seen before. I was with my board after appointment to chair the Development Agency in 2003, giving investments to support that Charter and turning a sleepy seaside town into the most enterprising town in Europe in 2009. A lot down to the sheer outstanding work of John Thompson and his determination to make a lasting difference - and a difference he did make.
In chairing panel meetings which last two days, Johns voice around the table of experts was well-respected, and often led to learning moments for all. I am aware of the wide range of contributions John has made in his career beyond my example of Scarborough.
For me, one of his most outstanding was his ambition to expand the debate and extend best practice with regard to quality of life in urban areas, which he achieved through his instrumental role in the creation of The Academy of Urbanism - an autonomous, politically independent, cross-sector organisation formed in 2006. Some people make a difference well and beyond their call of duty. I believe in my experience John Thompson to be one of them.
Professor Terry Hodgkinson CBE, DL, D. Univ., BSc (Hons), FCIOB, C.Dir, FIOD.
People touch you in different ways. John soaked in his fellow panel colleague’s unique world- wise experience, combined this with his own and created life changing moments, whose momentum still lasts today ten years on.
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Community Engagement
Scarborough Today 52
When John Thompson came to Scarborough to lead on the Renaissance project in 2002, funded by Yorkshire Forward, the then Regional Development Agency, the place was in a sorry state. Whilst the town may have looked acceptable on the surface, the problems of attitude, lack of ambition, poor quality investment and general demoralisation were endemic. From the very outset, John and his team confronted the challenges and helped us develop a Town Team and a route out of the position we were in. The projects developed through his leadership and superb understanding encouraged the vast array of those involved to bring in around £24m of public sector funding on several transformational tasks. These projects as well as a total change of attitude through the town brought in approximately £275m of private sector investment, delivering more year round jobs, far improved business yields and a move away from a failing town by the sea to a vibrant and exciting place in which to live and invest. The development of a town charter encouraged a whole new sector of creative businesses and overall raised standards of everything from hospitality to education. Little was left unchallenged by this wind of change that John had initiated.
The engagement process he started with the Town Team, underpinned by eight special interest ‘Action Groups’ was of such significance that the town won the International Association of Public Participation’s Project of the Year Award in 2009. The final accolade the town won was the Academy of Urbanism’s Great Town Award in 2010 which demonstrated to those involved and especially any sceptics still remaining, that the Renaissance activity was not a stroke of luck but a sustained effort and set of outcomes that were delivering tangible results.
John Thompson had been the architect of the whole process – for which the town of Scarborough is immensely grateful. Nick Taylor, Scarborough Urban Renaissance Manager
This was recognised by the town winning Britain’s Most Enterprising Town in 2008 and Europe’s Most Enterprising Place in 2009. It was John’s influence that stimulated a small group of well connected individuals to start the changes and challenge previously held attitudes.
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Community Engagement
Upper Calder Valley Renaissance Market Towns Yorkshire In 2001, John was approached by Yorkshire Forward to lead a Vision exercise in the Upper Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, which comprised the towns of Todmorden, Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Walsden and Sowerby Bridge. Rather than compete, John persuaded the places to collaborate – running a large-scale programme of participation in each town involving over 2,000 people, and then facilitating a Vision building process for the entire valley with key representatives. In recognition of John’s innovative communitybased work in the Upper Calder Valley, he was invited by the Regional Development Agency to become a member of the Urban and Rural Renaissance Panel, advising Yorkshire Forward on approaches to development in the region.
A Vision for Todmorden, Upper Calder Valley
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Community Engagement
Upper Calder Valley, Press Coverage
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Upper Calder Valley, Canal Tour
Upper Calder Valley, Walkabouts 57
Community Engagement
Hungate York
Hungate is a mixed-use urban quarter on the banks of the River Foss, at the south-east edge of the historic city of York. JTP was appointed by a joint-venture between Crosby Lendlease, Land Securities and Evans Property Group to create a sustainable and historically sensitive riverside quarter that reflects the unique character of York, comprising 720 homes and extensive retail and employment uses. JTP developed a Design Code to inform the phases of the masterplan, working closely with English Heritage, CABE and City of York planners to reach consensus. The local community were highly engaged by the inclusive development process, and formed a Community Development Trust to establish the long-term management and maintenance of the facilities.
Awards Royal Town Planning Institute Awards 2008 Sustainable Communities Award Finalist A Vision for Hungate
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Community Engagement
Harry’s Hungate Sketches
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Community Engagement
A Community Planning Weekend
1. Set Up
2. Team Briefing 62
3. Site Tour
4. Opening
5. Post-it Workshops
6. Hands on Planning Workshops
7. Walkabouts
8. Community Report Back
9. Young People’s Workshops
11. Team Working
10. Saturday Night Dinner
13. Broadsheet
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Placemaking
A second area in which John has made a distinct contribution to British life is through his development, implementation and tireless promotion of placemaking as a design approach throughout the UK.
Through his urban renewal work on failed post-war social housing projects in the early 1980s, John developed a deep understanding of the design factors that are critical to the social success of urban environments - such as clear distinctions in public and private space, natural surveillance, mixed uses and the structure of public space. Although today such views and approaches are seen as best practice, at this time it was rare for an architect to design from the standpoint of social interaction and everyday life, and to see ‘places’ as more important than individual buildings.
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In my view the Localism Act 2011, which introduced statutory preapplication community engagement and consultation, validates John Thompson’s lifetime endeavour to promote the empowerment of communities as the key to successful placemaking.
John’s tenacious and persistent promotion of innovative community involvement processes as the key to delivering quality developments, vibrant neighbourhoods and fixing failing towns has earned him, and Britain, a well deserved worldwide reputation amongst developers and fellow professionals.
In particular, I know that his untiring pioneering efforts to build UK/ Chinese business relationships represents an exceptional contribution to promote the interests of Britain and British business abroad. My company has had the privilege of working with John for almost 30 years on many projects. He has demonstrated a lifetime of passionate and inspirational professional leadership, helping create value and quality and transformational benefits for communities and enhancing Britain’s image abroad.
Tony Pidgley CBE, Chairman The Berkeley Group plc
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London Wetlands Centre Barnes, London
The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) is a leading UK conservation organisation preserving wetlands and their wildlife. Founder Sir Peter Scott’s ambition was to create a wetland centre in London. In 1989, Sir Peter identified the four Victorian reservoirs at Barn Elms, by then redundant following the construction of the London ring main, as an ideal site for an urban wetland centre, and WWT entered into a partnership with Thames Water Properties, the reservoir owners. 10 hectares of the site was sold to Berkeley Homes, to complete the partnership. Since its opening in 2000 the centre has become one of the most popular attractions in London. The award-winning visitor centre and its wetland habitats were funded by Berkeley Homes’s Barnes Waterside housing development, adjacent to the site.
Awards The Waterways Renaissance Awards (2004) BURA and The Waterways Trust Heritage and Conservation Award Winner Tourism for Tomorrow (2000) Global Winner for Sustainable Tourism Silver Unicorn Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers for UK (2000) Best New Tourist Attraction RICS Award for Regeneration (2000)
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Charter Quay Kingston-Upon-Thames, London
Charter Quay is a riverside neighbourhood and cultural destination, located on a formerly underused industrial site in the historic town centre of Kingston-upon-Thames, London. 244 new homes are carefully arranged to maximise views of the River Thames, with entrances leading directly off the new public square to enliven the streets. A theatre, shops, restaurants and cafĂŠs are arranged around the square, reconnecting the existing market square to the north to the formerly inaccessible riverside path.
Awards Building for Life (2004) Gold Standard Award The National Home Builder Design Awards (2003) Best Mixed-Use Development The Waterways Renaissance Awards (2003) Commendation for Riverside Regeneration Project Association of Town Centre Management Annual Awards (2002) Best Town Centre Mixed-use Development
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This development fulfils many of the criteria of an excellent development. It provides high-density, mixed-use accommodation adjacent to an existing centre of activity. It has created new jobs, and provides accommodation for both those working locally and further away.
With the river on one side and the town centre on the other, this site has beautiful frontage.
New shops and several restaurants bring life right down to the edge of the river. The absence of traffic, clutch of decent venues, and public art has made the pedestrian square a high quality environment and turned Charter Quay into a new destination in Kingston.
The developer’s aim was to preserve and enhance the special nature of the river location. This included moorings for boats and wetlands for waterfowl.
Building for Life Judge’s Panel, 2004
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Craigielaw Scotland
A new residential neighbourhood near Aberlady, on land owned by the Earl of Wemyss and March, developed by St Andrew Plc, the Scottish branch of the Berkeley Group. The development consists of 23 large houses that overlook Craigielaw Golf Course and enjoy sweeping views over the Firth of Forth. To integrate with the golf course and optimise views and privacy, the plan is divided into two areas. One is a grouping around a focal green space and the other is arranged along a sinuous road that follows the line of existing, mature woodland. The houses adopt a modern interpretation of the Arts and Crafts style set within a generous landscape that responds to the site’s undulating topography.
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Limehouse Basin London
JTP’s high-density quayside development for St George completed in 1998 close to Canary Wharf, acted as a catalyst for the regeneration of Limehouse Basin, and is an important element in the revitalisation and transformation of London’s inner docks area. More than 150 apartments, many with views into the basin or south towards the Thames, are arranged in six, seven and eight storey blocks above semi-basement car parking around a private landscaped courtyard. High quality hard landscaping has been used to create a pedestrian route along the dock edge, and a new bridge across the Limehouse Canal has further improved the permeability and accessibility.
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New End Hospital Hampstead, London
Working with client Berkeley Homes, JTP created a masterplan for New End Hospital, which combines careful refurbishment of historic buildings with sensitive new infill buildings at a prominent location in Hampstead, north London. The proposals included a much-needed new school, integrated within the massing and scale of the new homes. A new public right of way through the site significantly improves permeability and creates a safer environment, enhanced by mature landscaping.
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Putney Wharf London
Putney Wharf is one of the London Borough of Wandsworth’s key projects in the regeneration of the River Thames and continuation of the riverside walkway. The site was formerly derelict, housing dilapidated warehouses from a locally listed brewery, which had fallen into disuse. JTP incorporated the former brewery into the mixed-use neighbourhood as a contemporary new public house that forms the focal point for the community, alongside 210 new homes, offices, restaurants, bars and a fitness centre.
Awards Building for Life (2005) Silver Standard Award Planning for London Awards (2004) Best Planning Built Project Contributing to London’s Future
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The site is dominated by the 175ft high Putney Wharf Tower, a concrete frame now faced with the early 21st century vernacular of terracotta rainscreen and gunmetal balconies. This is juxtaposed with the 19th century masonry of St Mary’s Church which now includes an extension where expanses of glazing and timber modernise the Victorian historicist styling. Like most Building for Life schemes, housing is the overwhelming driver for development, but the casual visitor would not sense they were arriving at a new-build residential scheme: the mix of architectural styles, renovated buildings and landscaping combine as a quarter with a distinctive character, rather than as a new development. Residential developments tend to apply the expensive finishes to the residential units for sale, and skimp on the public realm.
At Putney Wharf, the public realm is where architectural detailing is of uniformly impressive standard, with its imported stone and stainless steel.
This reflects the genesis of the project – a design competition for the tower refurbishment which lead to Patel Taylor architects being appointed and a partnering arrangement between John Thompson’s and St George to build on previous successes such as Charter Quay in Kingston. Putney Wharf is in a fantastic location for public transport with bus stops outside the site entrance, and Putney railway station and Putney Bridge tube station within easy walking distance. As a result, minimal car use by residents is encouraged and no parking is provided for visitors, who rely on public transport. The scheme has a range of tenure with both private and affordable housing. A good range of unit sizes are also provided, with one, two and three-bed apartments along with four-bed townhouses. This should encourage a mix of residents and smaller units might provide a foot on the ladder for first time buyers with generous parents. The scheme’s central location, as well as a mixed-use provision on site, ensures close proximity to bars, restaurants, local schools and shops.
Building for Life Judge’s Panel, 2005
The design is specific to the scheme but includes two groups of styles. Firstly, the contemporary machined vernacular of Putney Tower and the landscaping, with its mix of stainless steel and frills-free masonry. Secondly, the faux warehouse styling of the London stock-brick faced Brewhouse and Castle Court blocks.
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Gunwharf Quays Portsmouth
Gunwharf Quays is a significant urban quarter on the edge of the historic Portsmouth harbour, which sits within a conservation area. In addition to the 121 new homes, a wide mix of retail, restaurants, bars and leisure facilities have brought new vitality to the pedestrian-friendly dock, enabling Gunwharf Quays to host prestigious events such as the Tall Ships Race. The project has won acclaim from English Heritage and other authorities for the successful way in which it maximises its prominent waterfront location. The design takes care to respect and enhance the setting of the Vulcan Building, a scheduled ancient monument which is now home to Apex Art Gallery.
Awards Building for Life Awards 2008 Silver Standard Award Winner National Homebuilder Design Awards 2004 Award for Best Mixed-use Development Commendation for Best Use of a Brownfield Site
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The success of the Gunwharf Quays development lies in the integration of a range of living, working and leisure facilities on a unique site. The previously walled quays have been opened up to the neighbourhood, creating new routes along the water edge and through its main pedestrianised shopping areas.
It is fair to say that a new community has been created from nothing, providing selfcontained living in a range of property types, from one-bedroom apartments to townhouses. The site has two main aspects divided by a canal: the residential units and the main shopping/leisure areas. As a result, there is a definite sense of calmness within the residential areas. The retail spaces are very successful, with designer outlets encouraging many shoppers from outside the city to come and spend a day beside the newly designed sea edge.
The layout and massing of the development is variable. Alongside the three-storey blocks of the historic naval structures, the housing is limited to three stories to respond to this existing context. The scale increases towards the waters edge and canal side to six stories. There are largerscale structures across the site near the newly constructed retail areas, including social housing and a new hotel. This massing is dominated by two elements: the Spinnaker tower, approximately 170 metres tall, and the latest development, Number 1 Gunwharf, a 29-storey apartment block.
Number 1 Gunwharf’s architecture is conceptually connected to the idea of a ship’s funnel. Both of these structures offer incredible views across Portsmouth Harbour.
Building for Life Judge’s Panel, 2008
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Royal Clarence Yard Gosport
Royal Clarence Yard was established in 1831 as a victualling yard supplying the Royal Navy with fresh water, salt meat, biscuits and rum. The site sits adjacent to a Site of Special Scientific Interest and includes two Conservation Areas containing 18 Grade II and II* listed buildings and Scheduled Monuments. Buildings include the cooperage, granary, bakery, slaughterhouse, hydraulic engine house, artificer’s workshops, ceremonial gateway, superintendent’s houses, reservoir, barracks and guard house. War damage and the removal of modern storage buildings left gaps in the historic layout, resulting in under-utilised and undefined spaces. In the late 1990s the site became redundant and was sold by the Ministry of Defence to Berkeley Homes. Initiated by a lively community planning weekend, JTP designed the regeneration proposals to create a new, mixed-use neighbourhood integrating new buildings with the existing historic structures. Planning permission was granted in 2001.
Awards Regeneration Awards (2004) [Property Week/Builder Magazine Group] Best Housing-led Regeneration Project
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Kew Riverside Richmond, London
Kew Riverside, located on the south bank of the River Thames, transformed a former sewage works into a vibrant neighbourhood of over 500 mixed tenure homes. JTP created a masterplan organised around views to the river, sequential spaces and a variety of scales to reconnect the new neighbourhood to the surrounding areas. Open spaces and landscaped fingers of differing character incorporate a network of pedestrian and cycle routes that link the new and existing residential areas to the River Thames. A village green creates a central focus for the community, overlooked by surrounding houses.
Awards Bentley International Property Awards Best UK Development (2003) Best Architecture [5 star rating] What House? Award (2003) Gold Winner for Best Development
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The Manor, Marsh Farm Lower Earley
Marsh Farm, a neighbourhood designed by JTP for Thames Water, is the regeneration of a former sewage treatment plant in Lower Earley, on the edge of Reading, Berkshire. JTP’s design response brings together high quality architecture, considered urban design and rich landscaping to create a strong sense of place with a distinct character. The project delivers 149 new homes in a mix of typologies, designed to be tenure blind to support community cohesion. The heart of the neighbourhood is connected to the surrounding green open spaces and landscaped areas, and four crescents of linked townhouses face onto the parkland to maximise natural views for the residents.
Awards Building for Life (2007) Silver Standard Award
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The scheme’s strong identity is a marked contrast to the undistinguished housing immediately to the north of the site.
The house types feel more like bespoke designs with a style of architecture which is sometimes Arts & Craft, sometimes more classical. Bands of reconstituted cream stonework add variety to the brickwork elevations which use a multi stock. Larger heavier buildings such as apartment blocks use areas of cream render to soften their bulk, while some taller buildings have hanging double-height bays where a balcony to a bedroom sits on top of a hanging window. Wooden balconies are painted white, as the classical porticos to some of the more classical house designs.
The scheme impresses with its robust and colourful surface treatments and these are supported with good planting with native and exotic evergreens such as yew and yucca. The fronts of all homes have been planted helping to soften the “rawness” of a new-build scheme and homes are mostly well lit by daylight owing in part to their orientation and to the use of bigger than normal fenestration. The scheme’s principal environmental technology is the use of permeable paving so that water run-off from the scheme’s extensive hard landscaping is managed and taken to a wetland area to the south east corner of the development.
Building for Life Judge’s Panel, 2007
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The Hamptons Worcester Park
The Hamptons is a neighbourhood in the south west London suburb of Worcester Park, designed in a Shaker style using primarily timber, to create a strong local identity and a veranda living culture. The project comprises 645 new homes arranged around a 12ha central park, connected via a long tree-lined avenue to the new town square, featuring a community building housing offices, meeting rooms, a business suite and a gym. JTP’s designs maximise the natural features of the site to create added value for the new residents. Research into the sales values of surrounding neighbourhoods showed The Hamptons homes achieved 14% higher values.
Awards What House? Award (2006) Silver Winner for Best Exterior Design
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Dickens Yard Ealing, London
Dickens Yard is a vibrant retail-led urban quarter that forms a high quality extension to the town centre of Ealing, West London. It is designed around a series of new shopping streets and spaces, as well as 698 new homes, complementary community facilities and an extensive leisure studio. The site is adjacent to Ealing town centre Conservation Area, the Grade I listed town hall, the Grade II* listed Christ the Saviour church and a locally listed fire station. The quarter dramatically improves permeability with a series of interlinked pedestrian friendly spaces and routes, integrating with the adjoining listed church and town hall. Full detailed planning approval was unanimously achieved at local level.
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Kew Bridge Brentford
Kew Bridge is a new urban quarter located on the northern bank of the River Thames, adjacent to the Grade II* listed Kew Bridge, overlooking the World Heritage site of Kew Gardens and sitting within two conservation areas. JTP undertook an extensive community engagement process to address the significant local opposition that had been established to a previous developer’s proposals, working in collaboration with local community resident groups, Kew Steam Museum and London Borough of Hounslow. The quarter features a vibrant mix of uses including a new public house, restaurants, shops and homes in a mix of sizes and typologies.
Awards London Residential - Shortlisted (2017) RICS Awards Best Housing Scheme [fewer than 500 homes] (2017) Highly Commended Planning and Placemaking Awards
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Fulham Reach London
Fulham Reach is a vibrant mixed use quarter to the east of Hammersmith Bridge, west London, featuring restaurants, cafÊs, a pub, a local shop, office space, a yoga studio and a community rowing club. JTP was appointed by St. George to develop a masterplan of high quality homes and public spaces, including a landscaped central boulevard linking Frank Banfield Park to the new riverside park and walkway. Two unique sculptures by local artists help embed the buildings in their cultural context. The extensive 12-month community engagement process included the local community, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and their Design Review Panel, English Heritage, Port of London Authority, Environment Agency and residents’ groups.
Awards Best Mixed-Use Development (2016) What House? Awards
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The Prince of Wales
Photo Gallery
Wally Thompson
Fred London and Joanna Allen
Alexei Mesheryakov
Dominic Chapman
Bernard Hunt
The Prince of Wales and John Jacobs
Margaret Thatcher
The Prince of Wales
Keith Shearer
Marcus Adams
JTP’s 20th Birthday Party
Marcus Adams and Harry Harrison
John and Nova
Andreas von Zadow
Harry Harrison, Fred London, Misha Ryabov Oleg Tolkachev and John visiting their good friend Alexei Mesheryakov
Trevor Osborne and Nova
Oleg Tolkachev
Joanna Allen and Oleg Tolkachev
Joachim Eble
Arzu Kocabas
Sigurborg Kr. Hannesdรณttir
Brian Evans and Clare San Martin
President Zhang Jianguo, Zhoushan Greentown, Changzhi Island
Ying Ying Tian
Brian Evans
International Placemaking
International Placemaking
In addition to his placemaking work in the UK, John has been responsible for exporting UK innovation pioneering the introduction of participatory planning in a wide range of masterplanning and transformation projects. The Moscow ECO-1 project in 1991 was seminal for JTP’s international projects in establishing a network of overseas collaborators. JTP started their international placemaking in January 1995, with the Berlin Hellersdorf ‘Perspektivenwerkstatt’. Over the next 20 years, John led international placemaking projects in Russia (Micro-Region 15A, Moscow); Germany (Hellersdorf, East Berlin, Essen, Munich, Arnsberg, Leverkusen, Lubeck); Italy (Turin, Vigevano); France (Paris, Nancy; Lille); Turkey (Istanbul); Czech Republic (Prague); Iceland and China (Changzhi Island, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Hainan, Wuxi, Qidong, Luzhou and Liangzhu).
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Russia Moscow, ECO -1
A seminal project for John during his time at Hunt Thompson Associates was working with the European Academy of the Urban Environment (EAUE, in Berlin) as part of an international team to develop proposals for the regeneration of the Micro-region-15 October District of Moscow. Under Communism, the city of Moscow had a top-down planning policy for new residential areas. In 1991, as state control was starting to relax under Perestroika, local architect Alexei Mesheryakov’s search for an expert in community planning ended in success when he met John Thompson. Alexei and his colleagues were concerned about a place where the authorities had started building a new tower block in the green space between existing apartment blocks, and wanted to activate the local community to halt its construction. This was one of the earliest occasions when Muscovites felt safe expressing their opinions, and the connection with EAUE led subsequently to numerous community planning projects carried out by John and JTP in many European countries and the far east.
Misha Ryabov’s Political Cartoons
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ECO -1, Community Planning Event Document
ECO -1, Community Planning Event 171
International Placemaking
Russia Rublyovo-Arkangelskoye
In 2004, JTP was commissioned by Russian development company NAFTA and working with local architect partner Group Ark, led by Oleg Tolkachev, to develop a masterplan for an exceptionally prestigious 430 hectare site along the Moscow River, to the west of the city, in the Moscow Region. The brief was to create a new, mixed-use settlement, for a population of 30,000, incorporating large quantities of retail and commercial space, community facilities, hotels, a country club, sports and leisure facilities, kindergartens and schools. The residential elements consist of a variety of housing typologies ranging from apartment buildings, villa blocks and townhouses to a mixture of detached houses, villas and grand ‘Cottages’. The focus for the settlement is a spacious boulevard running south from a waterside Citadel and crossing the curving Grand Canal, lined by green spaces and high-end apartment buildings, which makes use of the oxbow lake that results from the meanders of the Moscow River in bygone eras.
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International Placemaking
Russia Razdory
JTP was commissioned by Millgate Capital, owned by Roman Abramovich, and working with local architect partner Group Ark, led by Oleg Tolkachev, and Gillespies Landscape Architects, to develop a detailed masterplan for a 200 hectare site next to the village of Razdory, in the Moscow Region to the west of Moscow along the prestigious RublyovoUspenskoye highway. The brief was to create a new, very high-end, mixed use settlement of 1,000+ homes, incorporating a variety of housing types from apartment buildings, villa blocks and townhouses to a mixture of detached houses, villas and large cottages. The brief also included community facilities, a country club, sports and leisure facilities, some retail and commercial space, a kindergarten and a school. The focus for the settlement is a large Central Park, modelled on Regent’s Park in London, surrounded by grand apartment buildings. A small river meanders through the Central Park and out into the Moscow River, which runs past the northern part of the site.
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Germany Hellersdorf, East Berlin
In Hellersdorf, a suburb of Berlin in the former East Germany, John was invited to use his approach to develop an integrated physical, social and economic masterplan for the transformation of a system-built suburb of 3,000 dwellings and 10,000 inhabitants. The quarter had been christened ‘Cecilienplatz’ and John’s presentation cemented WoGeHe’s decision that it would involve a Community Planning process, with the central goal of encouraging as many of the existing residents as possible to remain in Hellersdorf, through the creative remodelling of the blocks and the spaces in between. Subsequently, a generous commission was recieved to continue the public participation with the design of replacement balconies, new entrances to the blocks and colour schemes for the internal staircases, giving them all more of a hand-made, lighter weight, more personal feel in contrast with the monotony of the existing slab and tower blocks. This led to a further commission for striking colour schemes on the exterior of the blocks as an additional way of introducing individuality and legibility to the Cecilienplatz area. During the project’s preparatory phase John asked the client, a former East German, whether a visit from HRH Prince Charles would be welcomed. The visit duly took place a month or so after the Charrette, with HRH escorted by a huge motorcade and arriving at the central square. Countless residents looked down from crowded high-rise balconies as HRH made his way through the square and into a tower block to visit a resident and have tea. In the press there was widespread astonishment that, on his arrival in Berlin, HRH’s first appointment was in Cecilienplatz, and WoGeHe was delighted to see Hellersdorf well and truly put on the map!
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International Placemaking
Misha Ryabov’s Hellersdorf Cartoons
Hellersdorf, Community Planning Weekend 180
Hellersdorf, Community Planning Weekend 181
International Placemaking
Germany Schlossplatz
This community planning project involved working with the Prince of Wales’s Project Office to reconcile the disparate views of ‘East’ and ‘West’ Berliners as to how this historic square in the centre of the city should be redeveloped. Berlin’s Schloss (castle) was severely damaged during WW2 and the creation of the Berlin wall placed it within East Berlin. Although the Schloss could have been restored, the Communist regime replaced the neo-classical symbol of imperialism with a shiny people’s palace; the Palast der Republik. Following the fall of Communism a pressure group was established backed by influential citizens proposing to demolish the Palast, by then closed due to asbestos contamination, and replace it with a brand new replica of the former Schloss, whilst the former East Germans wanted the Palast to be retained! JTP’s international team carried out a community planning Charrette (Perspektivenwerkstatt) to create a consensus masterplan, focussing on the idea that this divisive, ideological battle could be overcome by a new, high quality urban design concept; neither Schloss nor Palast. The final outcome? Victory for the Schloss, now under construction!
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Misha Ryabov’s Cartoons 184
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Germany Essen
Following the success of the Hellersdorf project, John was asked to lead a sequence of city-scale projects in Germany. Working with local teams he was commissioned to develop representative, cross-sector support groups and project carriers prior to developing consensus-led Visions and masterplans to direct and inform the development of statutory plans and development frameworks.
Awards Robert Jung Prize (2000)
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When John Thompson was asked to demonstrate Community Planning in Essen in 1999, the city was deep in conflict regarding the future of the Berlinerplatz area, located between the city centre and the University. Citizens were highly critical of the political decision to locate a new Philharmonie building there, and previous urban design competitions had resulted in development plans which remained undelivered for decades, and were therefore no longer realistic. The “Perspektivenwerkstatt Essen” became the Change project for the city’s policy on public participation. Under the leadership of John Thompson we practiced hands-on-planning for the first time and started the consultation process with a white sheet of paper to enable a really creative public process between citizens, professionals and officials. Over just a few well-organised days more than 1,300 people shaped the consensus masterplan and vision for a new “University Quarter”. An astonishing result.
Most significant was the renovation of Essen’s cradle, the “Burgplatz”, a highly contentious project whose progress depended on the cooperation of the owners of its adjacent institutions, including two churches of different faiths, a school, the historic cinema and warehouses along a shopping street. Previous discussions over many years had failed to arrive at any realisable outcomes. However, after John Thompson’s workshops in the year 2000 this case could be settled and many million Euros of investment unlocked. Furthermore, these two success stories delivered long-term benefits to Essen, triggering a healing process in the sense of rethinking the city, and engaging in more creative public participation, all thanks to John Thompson and the team he led!
Hans-Jurgen Best
The significant experience with John Thompson’s Community Planning consequently led to further highly successful placemaking projects in Essen, which otherwise could not have happened.
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Essen, Community Planning Weekend 190
Since 1998 I have been the Chairman of the Munich-Freimann District Political Committee. In this period of 15 years the community planning process we undertook with Mr. John Thompson was certainly one of the most memorable and important highlights.
For us the exceptional Thompson planning process was a radical demonstration of ‘Where there is a will, there is a way!”.
It was not until the “Perspektive Freimann” in 1999 that all the local stakeholders regardless of the political party they belonged to - managed to demonstrate an outstanding innovative and entrepreneurial initiative under the leadership of John Thompson.
This is being proved by the fact that, up to now, the basic concepts established in 1999 are still guiding the District’s way forward. The moral courage of “Help yourself, if you want to deliver change!” which John Thompson demonstrated to us, is going on.
Inspired by his encouragement, the District Committee was able to raise the necessary private sponsorship as well as the political courage to establish a comprehensive vision and way forward for the Northern District of the Bavarian Capital. For this less privileged area, with lots of mixed uses, environmental challenges and significant social problems, the Community Planning event organised, orchestrated and chaired by John Thompson became the moment of change, taking us from a long tradition of dissatisfaction and political complaints to an emphasis on positive action and achieving results.
On behalf of the District Committee I would therefore like to congratulate John Thompson on his 73rd anniversary. For sure, the seeds he planted in Munich are still alive and well!
Werner Lederer-Piloty Vorsitzender des Bezirksausschusses 12
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Germany Leverkusen
John Thompson & Partners, in collaboration with its German partners Von Zadow International and Eble Architektur, led a participatory planning process to find the best way of exploiting large tracts of redundant railway land close to the centre of Opladen, north of Leverkusen. The work revealed a variety of options for re-routing the active railway lines to open up even more land. This, combined with finding new uses for redundant industrial sites and buildings, could become a means of integrating neighbourhoods currently isolated by largescale infrastructure. The proposals also involved the redesign of the railway station to address a vibrant new square which would act as a prestigious gateway to the town centre. The masterplan was further enhanced by input from Joachim Eble’s, proposal to introduce an innovative, bio-climatic concept whereby convection currents caused by heat rising from the metal roofs of the railway sheds would pull in fresh air through the town centre from adjacent green spaces.
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Leverkusen, Community Planning Weekend 194
Leverkusen, Community Planning Weekend 195
International Placemaking
Germany L端beck
L端beck is an historic north German city. The old quarter is an island enclosed by the Trave River and Elbe-L端beck Canal. It has a medieval town plan and is identified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The centre suffered damage during World War II, which resulted in a lack of spatial coherence and poor quality public realm. In response to demand for high-quality public spaces that would respect the historic infrastructure, the city authority sought sensitive proposals for public realm improvements and an extension to the pedestrian zone.
L端beck, Community Planning Weekend
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Inviting all interested people of Lübeck into a church and then asking them to help plan the city centre - that is John Thompson’s approach to public participation. It sounds so simple but in reality the combination of determination, commitment and an immediate understanding of complicated backgrounds, as well as showing great respect when working with citizens and important local stakeholders, is what makes his community planning method successful and offers a big difference to what cities usually experience in participatory processes. Lübeck’s most important public spaces, listed UNESCO World heritage sites and regularly visited by millions of people, had fallen into bad shape and were in urgent need of renovation as well as a more radical traffic calming concept. However, for many reasons and after several years of controversial debate, professionals, local people and politicians had failed to reach any agreement on a renewal option.
It was in 2007 during the community planning event of John Thompson and his team whom we had engaged as “neutral outsiders” that we made the breakthrough, which achieved and indeed created a consensus vision for the most important routes and spaces in our historical city centre. “Mitten in Lübeck” became a highly successful example for the city of Lübeck’s approach to planning, and allowed us to upgrade our central spaces with more than 11 million Euro investment. And, thanks to John Thompson, we have learned an important lesson on integrated planning, which has now become a regular part of our participatory planning culture.
Franz-Peter Boden Bausenator
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International Placemaking
France Nancy
A community planning led urban regeneration process in collaboration with Eléonore Hauptman, founder of DIALOG, for the Communauté Urbaine du Grand Nancy. Haute de Lièvre is a 1960’s high-rise social housing settlement on le Plateau, situated on a hilltop overlooking the city of Nancy. In 2003 a regeneration programme was launched to address the combination of unsatisfactory layouts, failing construction and intergenerational social problems. By then its 10,000+ community, housed in ‘les barres’ which are a series of enormous slab blocks 15 storeys high and up to 400m long, consisted of people from a wide range of nationalities. The reason for the apparent lack of local shops in this isolated enclave became clear every Sunday morning, when an extraordinarily diverse and vibrant market would spring up selling household goods, and food for the week ahead, suited to the needs of the multitude of cultures and ethnicities who lived there. The public workshops were the source of design proposals to humanise the vast buildings and poorly-organised public realm, and to create new areas of housing making use of le carrière, an abandoned quarry adjacent to le Plateau, to create a more diversified social mix amongst the residents.
Nancy, Community Planning Weekend
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Fernand by Harry Harrison
ElĂŠonore Hauptman at the Nancy, Community Planning Weekend 202
Nancy, Community Planning Weekend
Nancy, Community Planning Weekend 203
International Placemaking
France Aubergenville
This project comprised a community planning process to create a masterplan for the regeneration of Aubergenville, north west of Paris, integrating the historic village core with the residential and system built housing areas that surround it, through the creation of a new, mixed use urban core.
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The paper tablecloth working lunch Aubergenville Community Planning Weekend, France, 1998
The Paper Tablecloth Working Lunch, Aubergenville Community Planning Weekend 206
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Czech Republic Wenceslas Square
In October 1995 at a meeting of the Prince of Wales’s Business Leaders Forum in Berlin, John gave a presentation about Community Planning. Mrs Dagmar Havlová, wife of Czech President Václav Havel, had been invited and, recognising the benefits of participatory planning, Mrs Havlová commissioned a Community Planning Weekend for Wenceslas Square, held in the Lucerna Palace; a landmark of the ‘Velvet Revolution’ of 1989. The 5-day event was very well attended by citizens who seized the opportunity to describe the experience of living in Prague during a tumultuous phase of its history, recounting their affection for the somewhat ‘Kafkaesque’ ‘Secret Passages’ through the urban blocks, including the one within the Lucerna Palace itself. The community contributed countless ideas about how the transformation of the square could enhance the attractiveness of the city as a whole. Improvements included reducing the space allocated to vehicle traffic, overcoming the negative impact of the ‘Taxi-Mafia’, connecting the Národní Museum to the rest of the square and removing the barriers and concrete planters that constrained pedestrians’ freedom to enjoy the iconic space. The over-arching concept was for Wenceslas Square to become the city’s cherished ‘Living Room’; a place where visitors are very welcome, provided they behave in a civilised manner!
Misha’s Wenceslas Square ‘Obstacle Course’
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Community Planning Event Led by Trevor Osborne
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International Placemaking
Iceland Urridaholt
John worked closely with political and community groups at both local and national level in Iceland to introduce Community Planning as a constituent part of the statutory process, piloting a series of participatory processes addressing issues of national significance. Gardabaer is a small town located on the outskirts of Reykjavik that was identified for expansion. The site at Urridaholt is environmentally sensitive; it comprises a hill that has panoramic views of the spectacular surrounding landscape; mountains, volcanoes, a lava field and the sea. Iceland’s low population has led to cheap land and urban sprawl with large, low-density, residential suburbs creating an over-dependence on the car.
Awards International LivCom Award for Built Projects (2007) Silver Award BSA/Build Boston Citation for Urban Design (2007) Urridaholt, Community Planning Weekend, Site Visit
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Urridaholt, Community Planning Weekend 212
The projects and methods that John Thompson so generously shared with us have shifted the national debate and awareness about public participation and local democracy within Iceland. In 2000 I was looking for new ways of working within communities, where people would not have to stand up and give speeches in rooms full of people if they wanted to give their input for projects that would affect them and their lives. I heard about a British company, JTP, that had considerable experience in involving the public in decision making. This was the start of a collaboration that has continued to this day. I went to the UK to learn from the team at JTP who were exceptionally willing to share their knowledge with a stranger.
I soon realised that this generosity was rooted in John Thompson´s belief in people, and a passion to make a positive difference in the way we humans create our communities. After learning from JTP, I went home to Iceland and started using the community planning approach here. For some projects we had a team of only Icelanders; other projects were a collaboration of Icelanders and specialists from JTP, in which case we had a combined Icelandic / British team.
It is well known that municipalities are ahead of national governments when it comes to involving the public. This is also true of Iceland. Having introduced JTP´s community planning approach, the process has been used in projects involving almost 50% of Iceland’s municipalities, engaging around 70% of the nation´s population. Government institutions then followed the municipalities’ lead. The idea of involving the public is as common now as it was unheard of at the turn of the century. The Association of Icelandic Municipalities now has one member of staff that supports public participation in municipalities nationwide. 13 years after I first met John Thompson, I am now working in rural communities in Iceland that are on the edge of collapse. The Icelandic Regional Development Institute is making an attempt to shift development by involving the inhabitants. In some of those places, the total population is only a little over 100 people. For this they need different ways of working, which is why they have asked for the service of my consulting company, ILDI. And I bring with me the knowledge that is rooted in what I learned from John Thompson.
His willingness to share his wisdom, expertise and experience has made – and continues to make - a fundamental difference to public participation in Iceland. Sigurborg Kr. Hannesdóttir
Iceland has only about 322,000 inhabitants. A small nation practises democracy in a different way than a large nation. The idea of formally inviting the public to the table for a conversation and involvement in decision making was virtually unknown. The only option was either lobbying or writing formal letters, e.g. in connection with planning processes.
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International Placemaking
Ireland Spencer Dock, Dublin
Spencer Dock North is a 21 acre, canalside site in the heart of the Dublin Docklands. Situated on the periphery of the city centre. Following a community planning event and alongside monthly public forums, a masterplan was developed for a mixed-use urban neighbourhood. The development maximises views onto, and access to, the water’s edge and features a landmark tower. It will include over 2,000 new homes, underground parking, retail, office and community space, live/work units (a new concept in Ireland), an urban park and the integration of a surface rail station, together with key benefits for surrounding local communities and improved pedestrian linkages with new bridges across the canal and rail lines.
Spencer Dock, Community Planning Weekend
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China During 2014 and 2015 John Thompson undertook one of his most significant achievements; pioneering the first community participatory processes to be held in China.
The community engagement processes were based around John’s methodology of interactive themed workshops where participants are taken through ‘problems, ‘dreams’ and ‘solutions’. The workshops ran by John with a team of facilitators enabled the community to firstly air their concerns, before moving on to thinking creatively about their aspirations and how they can be achieved.
Since 2008 John and his practice has been working in China applying the principles of great and sustainable placemaking to new developments there; having prepared over 40 masterplans and development strategies.
It had been suggested prior to the events that Chinese people might be unwilling to share their private thoughts and aspirations in a public setting, and that there might be a poor level of attendance due to cultural factors. The opposite proved to be the case; the venue was packed with a diverse mix of all ages and backgrounds; students, professors, families, the elderly and representatives from both the developers and the local municipality; all fully engaged as the workshop ran through the three stages.
In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of greater community involvement in planning and placemaking in China. Community events predominantly promoted by universities and educational institutions have been mainly passive in the form of exhibitions and questionnaires; in seeking a response to an illustrated proposal. We believe that the two processes undertaken by John for Greentown Developments at Changzhi Island in Zhoushan and for Vanke Group at Liangzhu New Town in Hangzhou are the first time an international team has undertaken participatory community planning events in China. What is also significant is that the processes have been attended by the local community and key stakeholders, and that the community’s thoughts and aspirations are firstly listened to, and then incorporated into emerging proposals and strategies.
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Both events attracted significant TV, press and social media coverage and the project at Changzhi won a prestigious Design Award for Social Innovation in China, presented on 11 September 2015 at the Design Success Summit in Shanghai. Echoing President Xi Jinping’s call “to enhance the quality of public participation and make sure all decisions are made with the people’s interests and inspirations at their heart” John has played his part in promoting participatory processes across China.
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International Placemaking
China Changzhi Island
Changzhi Island is located south of Zhoushan in the Qiantang River Delta archipelago, close to the regional centres of Ningbo, Hangzhou and Shanghai. The island runs from north-west to south-east. It is largely undeveloped and is connected to Zhoushan by a bridge. Two hills divide Changzhi into three areas; the middle and eastern parts are salt fields, while the west side is given over to farmland. The brief was for a new settlement to accommodate 50,000 people, designed on sustainable principles to create a low energy, ecological town.
Masterplan for Changzhi Island
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Changzhi Island, Charrette Working 220
Changzhi Island, 2013 Site Update 221
International Placemaking
A Vision for Changzhi Charrette, 2014
President Song, Greentown (centre left) 222
Hangzhou 9M Architectural Design Company has been working with Mr. John Thompson and JTP since 2009. During the nine years, we have been collaborating on a series of projects including Changzhi Island; a new town in Zhoushan undertaking design from masterplanning, urban design to detailed architecture. 9M is an architectural design practice belonging to the China Greentown Group; a prestigious developer which aims to deliver high quality and beautiful residential neighbourhoods. Six years ago, when Greentown commissioned a masterplan for a new town in Changzhi Island, John brought an international team, and led a participatory design charrette with the client and 9M, and successfully delivered the masterplan. The masterplan passed the review of the board of directors of Greentown in just one month, which is unprecedented in Greentown. We then worked with JTP to deliver the town centre design which represents the most complicated area of the new town.
John introduced the community planning participatory methodology, trying to identify what the community needed as well as what they can contribute to the town.
The community planning event was held in February 2014 and attended by about 60 people, including residents, villagers, students and staff from Zhejiang Oceanographic University and the managers from Greentown.
The community planning process was very enlightening and as a result, people started to show the interest and passion to build the ideal town together. The consensus achieved in the community planning process informed the design and management of the town centre. We very much appreciate the energy, enthusiasm and knowledge that John and JTP have added to the project. John, who is recognised as one of the most respectful advisers of Greentown Group, and the great mentor of 9M and myself.
Min HE Managing Director Hangzhou 9M Architectural Design Company
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International Placemaking
China Hangzhou
In September 2012, JTP was shortlisted in the Hangzhou Future City Conceptual Masterplan Competition to create a Future City that would enable Hangzhou to expand and capitalise on it’s high-tech industrial sector. This would be accomplished through the provision of cuttingedge production facilities and the development of home grown entrepreneurial businesses. The 360 hectare site was earmarked by the government as one of four sites in China that are to become global centres for clean, hightech industry. In October 2012, JTP won the international competition by delivering a masterplan that established a high-quality environment for business to grow and expand. This would be achieved through the creation of four distinctive neighbourhoods that support ‘seedbed’ start-up businesses, clean-tech factories and established high-tech industries. A mixed-use village centre and pedestrian high street are at the heart of the new community. Also, a central park meanders through the site, enriching the living and working environment. It is designed to be a truly sustainable clean-tech community where living, working and leisure come together in one distinctive place.
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China Wuxi
JTP was invited by Greentown to design a mixed-use linear space surrounding the two kilometre long canal on the shore of Li Lake. The design reflects the architectural tradition of the Republican Period in Chinese history. The project includes culture, entertainment, creative economy, performance, tourism and business uses, as well as hotels and residential buildings. There will also be a wide variety of vibrant destinations and public spaces alongside the busy water street.
A Vision for Wuxi Presentation
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China Qidong, Nantong
Strategically located in the estuary of the Yangzte River, where the river meets the Yellow and East China Seas, Qidong is China’s most eastern city on the eastern coast, and is the first to see the sun rise in China. JTP’s masterplan for a new town included a harbour, a golf course and a variety of other tourism facilities located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. A 5 km long Yangtze Experience Park was designed to be one of the top tourist attractions in the Shanghai region and would include a museum located at the eastern end of the park to celebrate the sunrise. Residential neighbourhoods of varying densities were clustered around the amazing Yangtze Park.
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Masterplan for Qidong 230
Qidong, Charrette Working 231
International Placemaking
China Suzhou Eco Town
The brief was to develop the first phase of the Suzhou Eco town with a focus on deliverability and long term sustainability. The JTP led team of experts from the UK, Germany and Taiwan, including eco-architects Joachim Eble Architektur, won an international competition for the project. The team delivered a detailed masterplan for the whole site - design codes to control the development of each land parcel and a comprehensive eco index system that sets targets for Suzhou Government to meet for each phase to be delivered by the private sector. Bioclimatic strategies were based on a rigorous understanding of the local environmental conditions to ensure the creation of comfortable micro-climates throughout the year. This was combined in a masterplan that embraced the principles of traditional watertown design.
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China Liangzhu New Town
JTP facilitated the Liangzhu Culture Village Community Planning Weekend for China’s biggest residential developer Vanke. The impressive Liangzhu Culture Village, started in the year 2000, now has more than 10,000 residents and by 2022 the settlement will grow to 45,000 residents. In 3,000 BC the settlement at Liangzhu was then the most sophisticated in the world, and is celebrated with a new museum by David Chipperfield, commissioned by Vanke. Today’s new settlement is primarily managed by Vanke, but they will leave after they finish developing the whole site. The aim of the Community Planning Weekend was to co-create an exit strategy for Vanke, including developing ideas for how the community could become involved in the governance and development of the settlement and ensure the continuing creation of a beautiful, social and welcoming community.
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Liangzhu New Town, Community Planning Event 236
I am delighted to write this letter to convey our appreciation to Mr. John Thompson and his team for carrying out an excellent community event in Liangzhu New Town, held on 13th to 15th June 2015. With his passion and wisdom, John led the team to undertake an excellent event which has exceeded our expectations. As one of the leading developers in China, Vanke started Liangzhu New Town about 14 years ago. So far it is our largest project; when complete in 10 years’ time it will have 50,000 residents. There are currently 10,000 residents, and a variety of community amenities have been completed including a culture museum, three nurseries, a school, a church, a retail street, library and information centre, and a market and community canteen. The community created a village charter to inform the spirit of the town. The town has been recognised as one of the exemplar new towns in China. When John first visited Liangzhu one year ago, he was fascinated by this emerging new town and community, and felt he could contribute to its further development. He introduced the community planning methodology which he pioneered in the UK and internationally for 30 years. Unlike the usual consultation methods of questionnaire, consultation and exhibition, through a community planning event John led the participatory process in three stages; open discussion, hands-on planning and way forward action planning.
At the end the community was highly motivated and expressed a desire to take more responsibility for managing the town together with the developer and the government. We were mostly impressed at the end of the session, when John proposed the concept of ‘5000+1’ as the theme to tie up our 5000-year history and culture, presenting action to improve our new town. This has injected great confidence and spirit to the community to move forward.
We once again thank John and his team for their contribution,and his important role in pioneering community planning events in China. Guang DING Deputy General Manager Zhejiang Vanke Narada Real Estate Co. Ltd.
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Liangzhu Community Foundation Opening Event 238
The Liangzhu Community Foundation (LCF) opened on 21 July 2018 with 300 residents and 100 volunteers participating in the opening ceremony. The ongoing ‘5000+1’ planning project is moving forward step by step thanks to JTP’s effort, especially through John’s encouragement and the Academy of Urbansim’s support.
The Liangzhu Community Foundation was founded by 20 local residents with two million Chinese Yuan capital with involvement from Alibaba Foundation and Narada Foundation.
The LCF is the very first community foundation in China to be founded completely by local residents. Yihan Shen Director Liangzhu Centre of Arts, Hangzhou, China
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Institutional Innovation Institutional Innovation
Institutional Innovation
The third way in which John Thompson has made a distinct contribution to British Life is in the area of institutional innovation. This relates to his instrumental role in the creation of The Urban Villages Forum in the late 1980s and The Academy of Urbanism - an autonomous, politically independent, cross-sector organisation formed in 2006, with the ambition to expand the debate and extend best practice with regard to quality of life in urban areas.
Misha Ryabov’s Cartoons for Renaissance Barnsley’s Rethinking Barnsley Planning Weekend 242
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Urban Villages Forum In the late 1980s, John teamed up with a number of other like-minded individuals including Trevor Osborne and was a Founder Member of the Urban Villages Forum (UVF). John and his compatriots were deeply concerned that few new developments could match the quality of neighbourhoods and towns that had evolved organically over time. The UVF undertook research, and formulated a new sustainable approach based around the needs of ordinary people. The outcome of this was the seminal publication ‘Urban Villages’ (1989) which set out the principles through which a new form of community-based development could be undertaken, together with an economic case for this. The highly successful pilot project at Poundbury was created by urban designer Léon Krier, with all community engagement carried out by John Thompson. After many years of promotion and lobbying, the core ideas of the group were finally accepted by the profession and adopted by the government as part of Planning Policy Guide 1, the new framework for the UK in 1997, and they continue to influence urban development thinking and practice today.
Poundbury, Community Planning Weekend
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Poundbury, Community Planning Weekend 245
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Regional Urban Design Action Team Pittsburgh
In 1988 John was invited to the Regional Urban Design Action Team (R/UDAT) in Pittsburgh, with other UK practitioners including Nick Wates. It was in Pittsburgh at the Remaking Cities Conference that John saw for the first time this Charrette based process which engaged professionals with the local community to develop scenarios for the regeneration of the Monongahela Valley following the collapse of the steel industry. John brought the Charrette concept back to the UK and developed the Community Planning Weekend process. The first Community Planning Weekend was “A Vision for Bishopsgate Goods Yard� held in 1988.
1988 Remaking Cities Conference, Pittsburgh
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Alan Simpson and John at the 1988 Remaking Cities Conference, Pittsburgh 247
Institutional Innovation
The Academy of Urbanism In 2006, John Thompson was invited by then President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), George Ferguson OBE, to become Chairman of the RIBA Planning & Urbanism Group, with a view to putting urbanism at the heart of the RIBA’s agenda. Through John’s chairmanship of this committee, the proposal to found a new organisation with a fresh approach emerged. His vision for The Academy of Urbanism (AoU) was to form an inclusive, dialogue-rich, multi-disciplinary body whose members were proven and committed practitioners of urbanism, and whose membership would be actively collaborative and forward-looking. John was Founder Chairman of the Academy of Urbanism from 2006-2010, and through his visionary leadership brokered the way from its inception towards what is now a 500-member strong organisation with a distinctive professional profile and a string of programmes, projects and publications. Today John is currently Honorary President of The Academy of Urbanism, and continues to develop the organisation’s ground-breaking activities, motivating and stimulating a diverse group of thinkers, decision makers and practitioners involved in the social, cultural, economic, political and physical development of villages, town and cities on a number of key fronts: The Urbanism Awards AoU Congress City X-Rays Learning From Place
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The Academy of Urbanism Publications and Brand Identity
Members of the Academy of Urbanism on a Study Visit 249
Institutional Innovation
The Urbanism Awards Learning From Place
Instigated by John Thompson and currently in their thirteenth year, The Urbanism Awards were set up to identify, celebrate and learn from the best places across the UK and in Europe, and the practices that underpinned them. Challenging the focus of most other awards programmes, which tend to favour only recent buildings or projects and where the recipient is usually the developer, architect or council, John’s unique vision for The Academy of Urbanism’s annual Awards programme was to create a more holistic platform for drawing attention to, and rewarding the successful places at different scales, addressing their physical and social inheritance through evolutionary transition. The short-listed places are assessed by a cross-disciplinary panel of experienced development professionals who visit and engage with the location, meeting different stakeholders including those from the community/user group itself. After assessment the Academy votes and awards are bestowed at the scale of the city, the town, the neighbourhood, street and the place, with the Academy then building a relationship over time, to learn both from, and with them. Places as diverse as Londonderry, Ludlow, and Liverpool have all benefited from their involvement in the Awards programme.
Extracts from the Space, Place, Life Publications
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If my task today is to try to squeeze London into these few urban lines I’ll have to think of all the languages That sing in this city from across the map; That whisper like a stream, gush like a tap.
london
This is a city built on sentences, On arguments and on reflections, On points of view and intersections Imagined and real: high rises of the soul With train line, palace, office block, school Park, theatre, bus stop, river An A to Z that goes on for ever.
city | town | neighbourhood | street | place
For generation after generation, in many different cultures and in many different climates, people came together and created places that uniquely reflected their collective needs.
Some are old; some are new; some have looked after themselves through changing times; some have benefited from timely and life-saving interventions; all are united by their ability to learn.
And then we lost the art of placemaking.
Through the relationships that are being established with each of these places, the Academy is seeking to create a body of evidence-based enquiry that can inform our quest to identify and deliver best practice in Urbanism.
Without it, the life of the individual is blighted, the life of the community is stillborn and the future of the planet is jeopardised.
city | town | neighbourhood | street With |it,place people can find expression for their own creativity, communities can develop their own vision and leadership and the planet can be secured for the enjoyment of future generations. In this, the first year in the life of the Academy, we present fifteen Great Places at the level of the City, Town, Neighbourhood, Street and Place.
Great places have the power to fire the imagination of their citizens. No one can create them on their own. If, collectively, we are to create them once again, we must first share a common view.
www.innovationsforthebuiltenvironment.co.uk
Poetry by Ian McMillan
city | town | neighbourhood | street | place
CITY | TOWN | NEIGHBOURHOOD | STREET | PLACE
Poetry by Ian McMillan
Poetry by Ian McMillan
CITY | TOWN | NEIGHBOURHOOD | STREET | PLACE CITY | TOWN | NEIGHBOURHOOD | STREET | PLACE
Poetry by Ian McMillan
Poetry by Ian McMillan
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John Thompson, Chairman, The Academy of Urbanism The URBANISM AWARDS 2006
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CITY | TOWN | NEIGHBOURHOOD | STREET | PLACE
Poetry by Ian McMillan
This is the mission of the Academy.
CITY | TOWN | NEIGHBOURHOOD | STREET Each of these places is the result|ofPLACE an appropriate and legible ordering of space for the purpose of by Ian McMillan personal and publicPoetry exchange - social, cultural, spiritual and economic, in a way that enhances the life of both the individual and the community.
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Institutional Innovation
AoU Congress The AoU Annual Congress is an inspiring, thoughtprovoking and entertaining opportunity to exchange ideas and hear leading-edge thinking from urbanists around the globe. It is an opportunity to embed the Academy within a city and utilise the assembled expertise of Academicians to tackle live local issues through hands-on workshops, walking tours and discussions. The success of Congress owes as much to the background and passions of its participants as to the insights and inspiration of the invited presenters.
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2006 Copenhagen
The Inaugural Congress
2007 Dublin
Space Place Life
2008 Sheffield
The Founder Congress for UniverCities
2009 NewcastleGateshead
The Knowledge City
2010
Manchester
The Layered City
2011
Glasgow
The Liveable City
2012
Derry~Londonderry
The Resilient City
2013
Bradford
The Producer City
2014 Bristol
Towards a Greener Urbanism
2015 Birmingham
Health, Happiness and Wellbeing
2016
London
The Future of Urbanism
2017
Aarhus
A New Culture of Urbanism
2018
Cork
Cities on the Rise
Š The Academy of Urbanism
Past host cities include:
The Academy of Urbanism’s 10th Annual Congress,The Future of Urbanism
© The Academy of Urbanism
John at The Future of Urbanism Annual Congress 253
Institutional Innovation
City X-Rays Out of John’s sense that better and more comparative data about successful cities needed to be collected and shared, the City X-Rays programme emerged. In these days of evidencebased practice, more work is needed to be able to quantify the transformational effects of placemaking and generate intelligent, effective metrics that reveal the true economic benefits of urban regeneration in particular. To this end, John’s innovative data-capturing and knowledge-sharing area of the Academy’s activities was developed. This has brought a new approach to how the development profession looks at life in our streets and cities, and has helped places like Chelmsford and Plymouth, where the Academy has worked in tandem with the RSA, to formulate an entirely new agenda and basis for future initiatives.
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The Lisbon City X-Ray, a Work in Practice 256
A Young Sam Adams! 257
Institutional Innovation
Learning From Place Under the auspices of ‘Learning from Place’, John Thompson has established and nurtured a strong track record for the Academy of Urbanism in terms of exploring, capturing, reflecting upon and disseminating new ideas and practices about the processes of change with respect to place. In John’s eyes this was an important aspect of the organisation’s activities, and has been achieved through regular face-to-face interaction at organised events and cemented by carefully edited publications. The annual Congress is a high-profile event attracting a diverse set of delegates from top ranking urban leaders to PhD students, and generates lively debate and positive media coverage. Other events during the year build on the new contacts and ideas that emerge from the Congress, and seek to put theory into practice. The Congress is staged each year in a place which merits examination, and instead of being an event which takes place behind closed doors, makes maximum use of the location to study and learn from the place itself, such that the programme includes visits to its exemplary places whose advocates are often among the Congress keynote speakers. Two volumes of Learning from Place have been published to date by leading academic publisher Routledge, in which each offers a wide-ranging self-critical take on current best practice among urbanists from the UK and Ireland. In addition, the Academy offers a rich programme of study tours during the course of any given year. Through learning from place, John’s vision of a learning organisation, not a learned organisation, is enacted.
Space Place Life
Urban Identity LEARNING FROM PLACE 1
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Learning from Place Publications
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The Learning from Place Freiburg Charter 259
Commendations A Plan For John Thompson by Ian McMillan
A cloud of hair. A clever plan. An exciting scheme. An excitable man. Bottle what he’s got or put it in a can: John Thompson! A life of ideas. A cloud of hair. Enthusiasm stretching from here to there. A certain style. Sartorial flair. John Thompson!
Space is what he thinks about; space and how to use it. Urban space or rural space; we break it or abuse it Until John Thompson comes up with a plan. Or two. Or three. Ideas bursting from his hair like blossom from a tree. The world’s a better place, I think, because of this man’s work; He lights up dingy alleys where potential troubles lurk And sees the bigger picture, then removes it from its frame, And if architecture’s art, then in the corner there’s his name: John Thompson! So raise a glass. So Raise the roof. I tell you he’s the living proof That thinking brings eternal youth He’s always hunting for the truth He’s never distant or aloof If the world’s a smile, he’s the golden tooth: John Thompson!
Commendations
John Thompson
Presidential Citation The American Institute of Architects
2019
Fairmile Hospital
Shortlisted, Best housing scheme (500 homes or less) Planning & Placemaking Award
2016
Edenbrook & Kew Bridge
Shortlisted Housing Design Awards
2012
John Thompson
Lifetime Achievement Award Urban Design Group
2019
Graylingwell Park
Shortlisted, Best housing scheme (more than 500 homes) Planning & Placemaking Award
2016
Graylingwell Park
Gold Award for Best Mixed Use Development Green Apple Awards
2012
JTP
Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work for Number 73
2018
JTP
Masterplanning & Public Realm Architect of the Year 2016 BD Architect of the Year Awards
2016
John Thompson & Partners
Employer of the Year 2012 AJ100 Awards
2012
JTP
Best Companies Three Star ‘Extraordinary’ Accreditation
2018
JTP
Best Companies Two Star Accreditation
2016
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
Building Awards 2012 Shortlisted: Sustainability Project of the year
2012
Southall Waterside
National Urban Design Awards Shortlisted
2018
Development of the Year (up to 25 homes) British Homes Awards
2015
Suzhou Eco-town China
Urban Design Group: Project Awards 2011/2012 Shortlisted
2012
JTP
The Building Good Employer Guide Fourth Place
2017
The Firs, Wimbledon (Atkinson Morley)
2015
Honorable Mention Green Dot Awards
Building Awards 2017 Architectural Practice of the Year
2017
Winner, Design Award for Social Innovation Design Success Summit
Suzhou Eco-town China
2012
Changzhi Island
Shortlisted, Collaboration of the Year Awards AJ120
2015
John Thompson & Partners
2012 Best Companies One Star Status (accreditation)
2012
The Oaks, Prague
Fitzroy Gate
Evening Standard New Homes Awards Best London Home – Highly Commended
2017
Best Companies
Best Companies Two Star Status (accreditation)
2015
Suzhou Eco-town China
Green Dot Awards: Concept Category Honorable Mention
2011
Southall Waterside
New London Awards 2017 Masterplans & Area Strategies - Shortlisted
2017
St Clements Hospital
National Urban Design Practice Awards Shortlisted
2015
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
2011
Lenton
LABC East Midlands Building Excellence Awards 2017 Best Social / Affordable Housing
2017
Watercolour
Placemaking Awards Highly Commended, Best Housing Scheme
2015
What House? Awards Gold in the “Best Sustainable Development” Silver in the “Best Brownfield Development”
LABC West Yorkshire Building Excellence Awards 2017 Best Social / Affordable Housing
2017
St Clements Hospital
Placemaking Awards Highly Commended, Community-led Placemaking
2015
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
CHPA Awards 2011 Community and Residential Award
2011
The Realm, Fitzwilliam
2014
Green Business Innovators Runner up, Carbon Reduction Category
JTP
AJ100 Awards 2016 Business Breakthrough of the Year – Shortlisted
2017
London Planning Awards Shortlisted, Best Conceptual Project
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
2011
St Clements Hospital
2017
Masterplanning & Public Realm Architect BD Architect of the Year Awards
John Thompson & Partners
Best Companies One Star Status (accreditation)
2011
AJ100 Awards 2016 Practice of the Year – Shortlisted
John Thompson & Partners
2014
JTP
2017
National Housing Award Winner, Best Scheme in Planning
The Hamptons, Worcester Park
Evening Standard New Homes Awards Best New Large Development
2011
London Residential – Shortlisted RICS Awards
St Clements Hospital
2014
Kew Bridge
2017
National Housing Awards Overall Winner, Provider of the Year
St Clements Hospital
Housing Design Awards Shortlisted, Project Scheme
2014
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
City of London Sustainable City Awards Sustainable Building of the Year
2010
Best Use of Brownfield Land in Placemaking – Highly Commended Planning & Placemaking Awards
St Clements Hospital
2014
Southall Waterside
Best Housing Scheme (500 homes or more) – Shortlisted Planning & Placemaking Awards
2017
Chilmington Green
National Urban Design Awards Shortlisted, Practice Awards
2014
John Thompson & Partners
The AJ100 (Architects’ Journal) Sustainable Practice of the Year Shortlisted
2010
Brunel Street Works
Best Housing Scheme (fewer than 500 homes) – Highly Commended Planning & Placemaking Awards
2017
Graylingwell Park
National Urban Design Awards Commended, Developer Award
2014
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
CoreNet Global UK Chapter Awards Sustainability and Innovation Award
2010
Kew Bridge
Edenbrook, Fleet 2017
Boxgrove Gardens
2014
Retrofit Awards Commercial Building Category Highly Commended
JTP
Masterplanning & Public Realm Architect of the Year - Shortlisted 2017 BD Architect of the Year Awards
2017
National Urban Design Awards Commended, Developer Award
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
2010
Award for Regeneration Planning & Placemaking Awards
National Urban Design Awards Commended, Developer Awards
2014
Battersea Power Station Phase II
Best Companies One Star Accreditation
2014
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
Sustainable Housing Awards Sustainable Larger Social Housing Project of the Year Winner
2010
John Thompson & Partners
JTP
Best Companies Two Star Accreditation
2017
Chilmington Green
Placemaking Awards Winner, Award for Strategic Planning
2013
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
2010
Lenton
(LABC) Building Excellence Awards – Grand Finals Winner, Best Social or Affordable New Housing Development
2016
St Clements Hospital
Placemaking Awards Shortlisted, Partnership Working Award
2013
The Housebuilder Awards Best Low or Carbon Zero Initiative Winner
2010
London First Award for Cultural Excellence
2013
Best Mixed-Use Development WhatHouse? Awards
2016
St Clements Hospital
Green Business Awards Green Buildings and Facilities Winner
Fulham Reach
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
2016
John Thompson & Partners’ London Studio
Giant Green Business Awards, Islington Council Sustainable Transport (Medium/Large Business) Winner
2010
The Building Good Employer Guide Third Place
What House? Awards Best Sustainable Development – Gold Best Brownfield Development - Silver
2013
JTP
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
A Home for All Seasons
Winner, Sunday Times British Homes Award Resilient Homes Design Competition
2016
Water Colour, Redhill, Surrey
SWIG Awards (Sustainable Water Industry Group) – Domestic, New - Shortlist
2013
Graylingwell Park, Chichester
2010
St Clements
Shortlisted, House Builder Awards Best Regeneration
2016
Cambridge Riverside
2013
Kip Village, Inverkip
Shortlisted, Top 60 Developments Best Affordable Housing Development of the Year
2016 2016
The Hamptons, Worcester Park
Bow River Village
First Time Buyer Readers’ Awards Best Large Development
2016
Graylingwell Park
National Housing Awards - ‘Best Large Development’ and ‘Best Sustainable Development Shortlisted
2013
What House? Awards Best Development Bronze
2010
AJ100 Awards 2015 Practice of the Year – Shortlisted
BD Architect of the Year Awards Masterplanning Shortlisted
2013
JTP
John Thompson & Partners
What House? Awards Best Development Gold
2010
Bow River Village
International Property Awards 2012-2013 Highly Commended Best Apartment and Highly Commended Best Development
Royal Town Planning Institute Planning Awards (South East) Community Engagement Award
The Hamptons, Worcester Park
2010
Lenton
Shortlisted, Local Authority Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards
2016
John Thompson & Partners
Best Place to Work – Scotland 2012 Shortlisted
2013
What House? Awards Best Exterior Design Silver
Water Colour, Redhill, Surrey
Building for Life Silver Standard Award
2010
JTP
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Scarborough Renaissance
European Enterprise Awards Grand Jury Prize
2009
John Thompson & Partners
Best Companies One Star Status (accreditation)
2009
John Thompson & Partners
The AJ100 (Architects’ Journal) Practice of the Year Shortlisted
Scarborough Renaissance
Water Colour, Redhill, Surrey
The Daily Telegraph Your New Home Awards Waterside Category: Highly Commended
2007
Cassio Metro, Watford
What House? Award Silver Winner for Best Brownfield Development
2006
2009 2009
What House? Award Gold Winner for Best Starter Home
2006
International Association for Public Participation’s (IAP2) Core Values Awards Project of the Year
Hoebridge Works, Old Woking Nordica, London
What House? Award Bronze Winner for Best Brownfield Development
2006
Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport
RTPI Regional Award Heritage Category Commended
2009
The Hamptons, Worcester Park, Surrey
What House? Award Silver Winner for Best Exterior Design
Scarborough Renaissance
The Academy of Urbanism The Great Town Award
2009
Water Colour, Redhill
What House? Awards Best Brownfield Development Silver Award
2009
The Village at Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Surrey
Briery Meadow, Haddington, East Lothian
Homes for Scotland Quality Awards Rural Large Project Award
2008
Briery Meadow (Rowanlea House Type) Haddington, East Lothian
Scottish Home Awards Business Stream House of the Year
2008
Manse Road, Dirleton, East Lothian
Homes for Scotland Quality Awards Rural Small Project Award
2008
Water Colour, Redhill, Surrey
The Evening Standard New Homes Awards Best New Family Home – (4 bed) Burchfield Best New Family Home – (3 bed) Sommer Best New Starter Home – (2 bed) Keller
2008
Flag Staff Green, Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport
RICS South East Awards Regeneration Category Runner up
2008
Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
Building for Life Silver Standard Award
2008
The Granary and Bakery, Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport
The International Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage Gold Award
2008
Scarborough Renaissance
Enterprising Britain Award Winner
2008
The Belvedere, Cambridge
The Daily Mail 4 Star Award for Best Development (Regionally)
2007
The Belvedere, Cambridge
The Daily Mail 5 Star Award for Best Apartment (Regionally)
2007
The Belvedere, Cambridge
The Daily Mail Award for Best UK Apartment
2007
Briery Meadow, Rowanlea, Haddington, East Lothian
What House? Award (Property Week/Builder Magazine Group) Silver winner for Best House
2007
Hoebridge Works, Old Woking
Evening Standard Home of the Year
2007
The Manor, Lower Earley
Building for Life Silver Standard Award
2007
Putney Wharf, Putney, London
The Waterways Renaissance Awards Winner of the Design and Construction Category
2007
Urridaholt, Gardabaer, Iceland
BSA/Build Boston Citation for Urban Design
2007
Urridaholt, Gardabaer, Iceland
International LivCom Award for Built Projects Silver Award
2007
Water Colour, Redhill, Surrey
What House? Award (Property Week/Builder Magazine Group) Joint Gold Winner for Best Brownfield Development
2007
The Village at Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Surrey
The Deputy Prime Minister’s Award for Sustainable Communities Finalist
2003
Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames
Association of Town Centre Management Annual Awards Best Town Centre Mixed-use Development
2002
The European Urban and Regional Planning Awards Conversion (Joint Winner)
2002
2006
The Village at Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Surrey
2006
What House? Award Best Luxury Housing Development
2000
Building Awards Major Housing Project of the Year
Barnes Waterside, Barnes, London Berlinerplatz, Essen, Germany
Robert Jung Prize
2000
French Quarter, Southampton
Housing Design Awards Exhibition of Excellence
2005
Freiman
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Award for Planning Innovation
2000
Putney Wharf, London
Building for Life Silver Standard Award
2005
Tourism for Tomorrow Global Winner for Sustainable Tourism
2000
The Village at Caterham, Surrey
Building for Life Gold Standard Award
2005
Peter Scott Centre, London Visitor Centre and Wetlands Habitat
Building for Life Gold Standard Award
2004
Peter Scott Centre, London Visitor Centre and Wetlands Habitat
Silver Unicorn Award from the British Guild of Travel Writers for UK Best New Tourist Attraction
2000
Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
The National HomeBuilder Design Awards Best Mixed-use Development Commendation for Best Use of a Brownfield Site
2004
RICS Award for Regeneration
2000
John Thompson & Partners
Architect of the Year Awards Runner up
2004
Peter Scott Centre, London Visitor Centre and Wetlands Habitat
The National HomeBuilder Design Awards Commendation for Best Small Housing Development
2004
The RTPI National Awards for Planning Achievement Award for Planning for the Whole Community
2000
Lawfords Wharf, Camden,London Makins Court, Alresford, Hampshire
The National HomeBuilder Design Awards Commendation for Best Retirement Development
2004
The Village at Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Surrey
BURA Community Award Caterham Barracks Community Trust
2000
Peter Scott Centre, London Wildfowl & Wetlands Reserve
The Waterways Renaissance Awards BURA and The Waterways Trust Heritage and Conservation Award Winner
2004
The Village at Caterham, Caterham on the Hill, Surrey
Putney Wharf, Putney, London
Planning for London Awards (Mayor’s Office) Best Planning Built Project Contributing to London’s Future
Queen Elizabeth Park, Guildford
Your New Home Awards Best Development for Family Living
Queen Elizabeth Park, Guildford
Building for Life Gold Standard Award
Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport
Regeneration Awards (Property Week/Builder Magazine Group) Best Housing-led Regeneration Project
2004
Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames
The National HomeBuilder Design Awards Best Mixed-Use Development
2003
Charter Quay, Kingston upon Thames
The Waterways Renaissance Awards Commendation for Riverside Regeneration Project
2003
Kew Riverside, Kew, London
What House? Award Gold Winner for Best Development
2003
Kew Riverside, Kew, London
Bentley International Property Awards Best UK Development Best Architecture (5 star rating)
2003
Makins Court, Arlesford, Hampshire
Alresford Society Rosebowl Winner
2003
Queen Elizabeth Park, Guildford
The Evening Standard Awards 2003 Best Three Bedroom House (Cyclamen house type) Best Home of the Year (Cyclamen house type)
2003
2004 2004
2004
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John Thompson is an architect and urbanist with a 50 year career devoted to improving the quality of everyday life in neighbourhoods across the UK and in Europe. Trained as an architect at Cambridge University during the 1960s, John is a thoughtful, charismatic and highly motivated urbanist who rejected the prevailing view of the architect as heroic ‘form-maker’ early in his career, and pursued instead an altruistic agenda, working directly with local people to create places that encourage social interaction and help nurture a strong sense of community. To achieve his goal, John has worked tirelessly, developing new ideas and pioneering innovative approaches to placemaking that have challenged professional beliefs and selfserving development practices.