Design District is the UK capital’s first permanent, purpose-built district designed for the creative industries. The 1.08-hectare land plot on the Greenwich Peninsula is formed of 16 buildings across seven districts. Eight architects have been commissioned by developers Knight Dragon to work on two buildings each, bringing the development to life with a vibrant cluster of affordable workspaces, galleries, studios, incubators, start-ups, inspiring, above all, ‘free thinking’. Danish landscape architects Schulze + Grassov are creating the public realm.

At the end of May 2021, the first creative companies started moving into the near-complete Design District site next to the O2 entertainment area. 

Skelly & Couch’s environmental designs for all 16 blocks within the district are to encourage natural ventilation and day-lit interiors through strong passive design, consequently reducing capital and running costs. Simple and flexible servicing strategies have been implemented to be easily adapted by incoming tenants, and building and site-wide energy modelling ensure compliance with the London Plan for energy.

The inclusion of passive design, efficient services and connections to a low carbon district heating network help reduce the carbon emissions of the scheme, and overheating modelling has been created based on the expected building usage patterns and local noise and/or air quality constraints. A new infrastructure design encourages limited space and closer connections between buildings, prompting a co-ordination of these connections to the Peninsula district heating network.

Skelly & Couch’s M&E expertise in collaboration with all the various architects involved, skilfully adapting to each firm’s aesthetic, serves to allow the public to safely, efficiently and sustainably experience the creativity of artistic minds and independent brands.

The £8.4 billion transformation of the Peninsula will provide 17,487 new homes, 950 of them affordable, in seven new neighbourhoods in the near future, comprising schools, offices, health services and public spaces, adjoining 1.6 miles of the River Thames.

Named one of the top 10 British architecture projects of 2021 by Dezeen magazine.

No fewer than four buildings at Greenwich Design District have been shortlisted in the AJ Architecture Awards in the Workplace up to £10 million category - two schemes by Architecture 00, another by David Kohn Architects and the C3 ‘Bureau’ building by overall masterplan architects HNNA (for which the architect has also been shortlisted in the masterplan category).

• Design District C1 by Architecture 00    See https://www.architecture00.net/00projects/designdistrict

• Design District D1 by Architecture 00    See https://www.architecture00.net/00projects/designdistrict

• Design District by David Kohn Architects   See https://designdistrict.co.uk/architecture/david-kohn-architects/

• Bureau at the Design District C3 by HNNA   See https://designdistrict.co.uk/architecture/hnna/

Design District by David Kohn Architects is a Regional Finalist in the 2023 Civic Trust Awards.

* Download press coverage from right-hand column: BD (14.07.22) 'Gather Round: Greenwich Design District'; Time Magazine (02.08.21) names Design District one of the World's 100 Greatest Places; and the Architects' Journal article (26.03.21) 'Designing the Greenwich Peninsula's Design District' *