This proposal transforms the Tate & Lyle sugar factory into a new civic space and mixed-use quarter for London’s young diverse population. The project sets out to address two questions: how should or could we reinvent and repurpose post-industrial space and manufacturing space? And how do we counter the spread of anonymous corporate residential towers that characterise so many London regeneration schemes?
The project builds on Tate & Lyle’s industrial heritage, providing workspace as well as cultural facilities and common spaces. Designed as a new civic quarter, the proposal includes a new public square and riverside path which allows Londoners to gather on the bank of the Thames. A hotel next to London City Airport creates round-the-clock activity on site.
‘Sugartown is the manifestation of a political hypothesis that cybernetics can create a society on equal terms’ says William Bellamy. ‘It represents the possibility of a pluralistic community and a self-organising form of governance at a city scale.’