10 Lower Thames Street

Pringle Richards Sharratt Architects were appointed by Northern & Shell to design a new café/ restaurant pavilion, associated hard landscaping and planting scheme on part of the quayside walkway adjacent to 10 Lower Thames Street in the City of London.

The proposal is to reconfigure the area between the building and riverside to provide a generous generally step free route across the site through a new and contemporary landscape and to introduce a freestanding two storey pavilion of around 520m2 that will provide year round cafe/bar/restaurant facilities  - together creating a new and vibrant destination along the riverside walk. Planning consent was granted in February 2019.

The Thames is a significant visual attraction and experience for visitors to London - and increasingly to those who work in The City and, despite the efforts made to provide a publicly accessible route along the river frontage, it is mainly a disappointing and unattractive experience -  particularly along The City sections of the north bank close to The Tower and Tower Bridge. Here the provision of facilities for visitors is particularly poor - especially when compared with those provided on the more vibrant South Bank.

The proposal seeks to redress this balance by providing a series of open, inclusive and attractively landscaped spaces with an enhanced provision of river orientated seating for visitors to sit, dwell and take in the sites in that rare experience of a south facing ‘pocket park’ on the river - served by a discrete and elegant river facing pavilion providing café, restaurant and bar facilities – a winning combination that together will create an attractive and vibrant year round destination on the river.

The proposal:

• recognises and exploits the unique depth of river frontage available at this specific site to provide public realm improvements that are consistent with the CoL Riverside Walk Enhancement Strategy. From a safety and flood risk awareness point of view the proposed building is single storey with level access and is fully glazed to the river facing elevation. 
• includes the redesign of existing green spaces for people to stop and enjoy the Thames, as well as to encourage biodiversity, enhance the cultural heritage of the City riverside, and mitigate flood risk.
• represents an improvement of the cohesion and vibrancy of the riverside and provides a spacious, accessible and better connected Riverside Walk with appropriate active frontage.