IN CONVERSATION: Ingredients for Success

Formed in 1936, the Urban Land Institute is the oldest and largest network of cross-disciplinary real estate and land use experts in the world.

Aiming to shape the future of the built environment for transformative community impact worldwide, ULI’s UK members recently visited Harlow to see how the original New Town is transitioning towards a 23,000 home Garden Town, one of the biggest regeneration and development projects in the country.

And with Sir Frederick Gibberd famously saying that his Harlow New Town masterplan would “go on changing and being rebuilt as the needs of the people altered,” we sat down with the ULI UK’s joint chairs, Kathryn Firth and William Polisano, for a Q&A on how the development of Harlow & Gilston Garden Town can positively impact current and future residents.

With the Government wanting to build 1.5 million more homes in the next five years, Harlow & Gilston Garden Town finds itself at the centre of this national ambition with a five council partnership aiming to deliver four new communities and infrastructure alongside a regenerated town centre? 

Kathryn Firth (KF): I’m very sympathetic to the fact that there’s a desperate need for new housing and I strongly believe that any new towns created should be in conjunction with existing infrastructure. This is what was so interesting to us about Harlow & Gilston. Expansion of the infrastructure, whether it’s transport, utilities or even social infrastructure, is already in place which means Harlow has a lot going for it. Showing impact early on in development is important to change the perception of places. 

William Polisano (WP): If the four new Garden Town communities are going to look towards Harlow as their central hub, rather than exist in isolation, then the regeneration of Harlow town centre is key. The town will need to be capable of attracting new demographics, new jobs, new types of retailers, new everything. And there has to be a cohesive and efficient way of getting those people in, out and around the town. Active travel is a good solution to that, although not everyone wants to, or capable of, getting on a bike, so reliable bus routes will need to be prioritised. These transport routes will also need to connect the new communities to the  railway station, which was built in the New Town era and is a 25 minute walk from the centre

Harlow & Gilston Garden Town has ambitious targets for active and sustainable travel that give people alternatives to jumping in the car for short journeys. And this is something that we’re seeing across the country?

KF: We’re seeing a reprofiling of roadways nationally, dedicated cycle lanes and well-lit routes, and Harlow is one of several UK towns and cities embracing this. There are similar initiatives happening in places like Wycombe, Peterborough and Hartlepool. It’s very much about choice and if you make it easy for people to make that choice, and give them options for cycling safely, storing bikes safely and hiring bikes then they will choose that. When I was working on the London Legacy development it was apparent that, just by providing cycle storage in people’s homes and residential blocks, people are encouraged to own a bike and therefore cycle regularly. If people feel like it’s going to get stolen then they won’t get a bike, they won’t use a bike and they’ll rely on other modes of transport like private vehicles. You just have to make it as easy and safe as possible to encourage more cycling.

The aim of Harlow’s Town Centre regeneration is to make the area a go-to-destination which means something very different to what is there now?

WP: Harlow is one of the most famous post war new towns, so what can we take from its history and apply to the future? Its regeneration is going to have a transformational impact, changing the look, feel and ultimately the trajectory of the town. The current town centre is obviously decades old, feels a little bit like a fortress and was built to be inward looking and self-sustaining. What that created is an insular and quite intimidating area with poor arrival points. The council have recognised this, and there’s an ambition for the new bus station to be a gateway into the centre, in order to open up the area. What’s interesting about Harlow is you see long-term decline and revival in equal measure and very short distances from each other. You’ve got the northern part around Market Square, empty and barren spaces historically, and then you arrive in the southern Water Garden section with bigger retail units, full facade glazing and it feels like a very different place. Hopefully the regeneration of the older areas of the town centre can create the kind of critical mass necessary for developers and investors to see the value in Harlow as a place of genuine potential. Then you’re on the way to delivering a desirable place for people to eat, drink and shop in, which in turn may encourage people to move into the wider Garden Town.

Harlow sits in a fantastic location economically, it’s part of the UK Innovation Corridor which has aspirations of doubling the country’s GVA by 2040 through life science hubs while the Garden Town aims to deliver 1000 new jobs per year over the next two decades.

WP: Harlow is close to London so it will remain attractive for commuters, but to enjoy long-term prosperity it must also fulfil one of Gibberd’s cornerstone ideas, which was to sustain itself through local employment for local people.  But there has to be different kinds of professions, to quote an old-fashioned phrase, both blue collar and white collar employment . If Harlow can continue to build on its reputation as a hub for industry, specifically Life Sciences, and the town centre can be transformed into a diverse mixed-use area for everyone to enjoy, then you’ve got the ingredients for success. That success will then catalyse further economic growth.

KF: Every town across the UK is trying to reinvent itself but Harlow has all the ingredients to come out on top when you consider factors like its location. The Garden Town also wants to retain that balance of open space that was integral to the original Gibberd vision, the preservation and preciousness of the green wedges is still important to local people. The scale of development taking place and access to amenities goes beyond traditional infrastructure and into the provision of the arts, the theatre and other recreational facilities and that’s great to see.