bromleyhighst

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Exhibition: Come + see the public realm design proposals from Wednesday 17th Feb, displayed outside Bromley Library.  This exhibition showcases proposed public realm improvements to Bromley High Street. These designs are currently in planning and will be delivered during Summer 2021.

Where: External poster displays outside Bromley Central Library, Bromley High Street, BR1 1EX

When: From Wednesday 17th February 2021

Digital copy: Download PDF of the exhibition boards here

Why?

Bromley Council is committed to improving its town centres for residents, businesses and visitors. Investing in the borough’s high streets, will assist with the COVID-19 pandemic recovery and enable our high streets to thrive into the future.

In August 2020, Bromley Council appointed Turner Works and YOU&ME Architecture to design a series of improvements within Bromley High Street. The project will build on the recent landscape improvements and activate the centre beyond retail use. A place for recreation, leisure, shopping and culture.

What are we doing?

The project will deliver:

A Canopy structure to provide shelter for everyday activities as well as events and festivals.

An outdoor performance space to support existing and extended cultural programming on the High Street.

A covered seating area inviting visitors to dwell and use the public realm in any weather and thereby support local shops and food outlets.

Two artworks to celebrate Bromley’s identity and contribute towards its sense of place and unique character.

Design Concept: The Famous Five

Turner Works and YOU&ME Architecture have responded to the project brief with five interventions:

The Greenhouse

The Punk Rock

The Story Seat

The Time Machine

The Broom Flower

These ‘Famous Five’ pieces draw inspiration from different elements of Bromley’s past and present. Collectively they tell Bromley’s story.

Themes include ‘Music & Culture’, ‘Science & Technology’, ‘Fiction & invention’, ‘Hospitality, Health and Nourishment’. These stories and references will be as woven into the designs through text, poems, maps and playful light projections.

These themes have been developed through consultation with key stakeholders and poetry co-creation sessions between local community groups and Poetry Machine’s Beth Calverley.

1. The Greenhouse

The main structure on the central site will be The Green House, a timber glazed canopy which references Charles Darwin, Crystal Palace and Bromley’s half-timbered houses. The Green House will be a lightweight, welcoming and light filled space which will glow at night with low energy lighting.

Located centrally and close to Churchill Theatre and Bromley Library, the canopy, seating and performance area will form a new hub for everyday use as well as larger events on the High Street. The location benefits from close proximity to central public facilities as well as links to Church House Gardens. The new interventions will correspond with the flexible use of Churchill Square.

2. The Punk Rock

The Punk Rock takes inspiration from the music heritage of Bromley. Situated underneath the tallest part of the Green House, it provides tiered seating facing the stage, and also gives as a raised platform for informal performances and sitting. The pre-cast concrete steps include inset hardwood timber seats, a large planter and storage.

3. The Story Bench

Partly covered by the Green House canopy, the Story Seat will be a winding bench tiled with community poems, stories, maps and illustrations. The bench will incorporate phone charging points and a WiFi hotspot.

4. The Time Machine

The Time Machine is an experiential sculptural installation that celebrates Bromley’s literary heritage, with specific reference to H.G. Wells’ science fiction writing. The design plays on abstracted time travel theories of time machines, time tunnels, worm holes and portals. It plays with false perspective, cosmic circular forms and illusion.

The artwork incorporates a new poem for Bromley, derived from poetry co-creation sessions with local community groups and poet Beth Calverley. This new piece of writing will reflect Bromley’s past and present dynamic.

The installation is experienced at different scales. It works both as an illuminated beacon from afar, as well as being immersive at an individual scale: You can sit within the worm hole; look up through its underbelly and mirror periscope; or be flooded by the poem light projection. The installation uses bright colours, low energy lighting and floor projections to create a dynamic piece which has different qualities in the day and night.

The double cone framework is made from powder coated slatted metal, with concrete steps and timber seating.

5. The Broom Flower

The Broom Flower is a sculptural jewel-like funnel which incorporates a drinking fountain, curved bench and planter. The form and golden colour takes cues from the Broom Flower after which the town is called - “The place where Broom grows”.

This artwork represents ‘Health & Nourishment’ and celebrates the significance of water within Bromley. It references the town as a coaching route stop and creates a stopping point along the busy high street. A place to rest, meet a friend, wash your hands or fill up your water bottle.

The playful rain collection funnel waters the planter and also appears to supply the drinking water point, to create an educational and sustainable design and talking point. Plaques incorporated within the seating will tell the story of the healing properties of St. Blaises’ well, the Town Pump and the significance of the Bromley Broom flower.

Lighting Interventions

In addition to the above mentioned proposals, we have developed a couple of lighting interventions which we believe will help to make the High Street more attractive at night:

A canopy of lights in the alleyway that connects the High Street with Church House Gardens, would make this link more apparent, and also celebrate the entrances to the theatre and library in this area. It would be a simple measure to uplift a currently secluded area, make it more visible, more inviting and therefore safer.

To animate the existing planter/seating elements on the High Street during night-time, we propose to place 2-3 single lamp posts with stage lighting luminaires that form light cones, in front of the planters. They would make the area feel safer, and also encourage impromptu performances by member of the public in a playful way.

Scale and Massing

The Green House, Punk Rock and Story Seat are strategically positioned at a central location along the High Street. This allows easy access from three directions – from Market Square to the north, from Bromley Station to the south and from Church House Gardens to the west.

The site section and south elevation shown below illustrates the location and massing of the proposed structure in context.

The lower part of the Green House is 5.2m high along its length, picking up the approximate height of adjacent ground floor shop fronts on both sides of the High Street. At it’s tallest point above the Punk Rock seating area in the centre, it steps up to 7.3m.

Design Development and Engagement

These designs have been developed with key stakeholders including: elected town ward councillors (Councillor Dykes, Harmer, Morgan & Rutherford); Your Bromley BID; LBB Town Centre & market team; Bromley Library and Churchill Theatre.

Poetry Co-creation Sessions

As part of our design process, we have worked with local groups to share their thoughts, feelings and memories of Bromley, as well as hopes for its future. Beth Calverley from The Poetry Machine has guided participants through these sessions remotely. Each group was given a choice about how to take part - some wrote the poems themselves, while others had a conversation with Beth, who wove their words into poetry, live in the moment, on her vintage typewriter.

Community groups who participated included: JusB Youth Group; Bromley Teenage Book Club; Bromley Civic Society; Bromley Theatre Guild; Bromley & Sheppards Colleges; Bromley Youth Council; Musicians Geoff Paice and Patsi; and Market Traders Gary, Paul and Chris.

Flyer invitation for poetry co-creation session

Collectively, these poems will inspire a new poem for Bromley, which will be incorporated within the Time Machine Artwork as a light projection (similar to the image below). Further poem extracts and community stories will be displayed within the Story Seat and fellow interventions, embedding these voices into the High Street landscape.

The scheme is currently in planning. Once validated it will be available to view online:  searchapplications.bromley.gov.uk Ref: 21/00337/FULL1

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Feeback

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In Our Happy Place: JusB Youth Group’s co-created poem

Thank you @JusB_Bromley for these beautiful words.  

These poems, alongside 8 other community poems and our design proposals will be exhibited outside Bromley Library from next Wednesday 17th Feb. Come and have a look! The design proposals will also be uploaded to this blog. 

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Co-creating poetry with The Bromley Theatre Guild - fantastic insight  into Bromley’s past and present performance heritage. From small village halls, through to the Little Bromley Theatre and more established institutions of Churchill Theatre.  

We are excited to be adding to this heritage with a new all-weather performance space right at the heart of the high street!

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THE BEAUTY OF BROMLEY written by member of the Teenage Book Club

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A new poem from Bromley

Can’t wait to see how Poet Beth Calverley incorporates all 9 of these co-created community poems into a new piece of writing for Bromley. This ‘response poem’ will be incorporated into the artworks coming soon to Bromley’s High Street!  Watch this space for more details….

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‘Sharing the Light’ co-created with Bromley & Sheppard’s Colleges and @bethcalverley 

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Thank you @BromleyCivic for these co-created words - LOOKING UP!

 “It’s about the wonder carved on people’s faces, when they look up at the details of our heritage, built by local traders’

sweat and smiles - and say: I didn’t know we had this here. Has this been waiting for me

all this time?”

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Amazing words co-created with Beth Calverley and market traders: Fishmonger Paul Rosenfeld, Hatter Gary Gamble and Chris Sargant from the Bromley Council Market Team #bromleymarket #bromleyhighstreet #poetry  #placemaking for @LBofBromley high street regeneration

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Thank you Bromley Youth Council for co-creating these wonderful poems! 

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We've had a packed few days with poetry co-creation sessions with 10 Bromley community groups + poet Beth Calverley from @poetrymachine. Some amazing conversations and insights into what makes Bromley special! Thank you to everyone who attended! 

JusB Youth Group @bromleylibraries Bromley Teenage Book Club Bromley civic Society Bromley theatre guild Bromley & Sheppards College Bromley Youth Council Musicians Geoff Paice and Patsy Market Traders Gary, Paul and Chris

Project background: As part of the new public sculptures that are coming to Bromley High Street, @turner.works @youmearchitecture are inviting local groups to share your thoughts, feelings and memories of Bromley, as well as hopes for its future. These conversations will be transformed into poetry which will be incorporated into the artworks.

How it works:

Your group is invited to take part in an inspiring Zoom poetry session. The Poetry Machine’s Beth Calverley will host a creative conversation about Bromley to help you express what it means to live, work and play here. Beth will guide you on a gentle journey through the past, present and future of Bromley. She will co-create a beautiful poem with you, live in the moment, on her vintage typewriter. Beth will read it to you at the end of the session and your group will receive the typewritten poem to keep forever.

Future poetry:

Your co-created poem will be shared with the wider community via our blog, social media and may also be incorporated within the artworks. Your poem - alongside poems co-created with other local community groups - will inspire a response poem that Beth will create after the engagement days. The poetry will be incorporated into the art sculptures that you’ll see appearing around Bromley High Street - so your words will truly stand the test of time...

#youandmarchitecture #turnerworks #bromleyhighstreet #regeneration #publicart #bromleycouncil #communityconsultation

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Turner.Works and YOU&ME Architecture have been appointed by the London Borough of Bromley to deliver public realm improvements within Bromley High Street. The brief responds directly to the changing nature of Town Centres and the importance of enhancing the experiential offer of the High Street, to increase footfall and to strengthen and diversify the daytime and night time economy.

This commission will enhance the vitality of Bromley Town Centre by transforming the use of the pedestrianised area of the High Street. The project will build on the landscape improvements delivered to date to activate the town for quality high street programming and make it known as a centre for recreation, leisure and culture as well as retail.

The project will deliver:

Covered Seating Area: This will support the introduction of more food outlets in the existing vacant shop units along the lower section of the high street by providing shared outdoor space for dining across an extended season.

Performance Space: A new all-weather performance space to support enhanced cultural programming and to drive footfall. This could enable a range of events, including annual festivals.

Sculptural or other statement piece: An artwork to celebrate Bromley and contribute towards its sense of place and identity.

The design of these permanent interventions will be derived from Bromley’s past and present histories, taking cues from Bromley’s people, landmarks and stories. We are working to a fast track programme, which has been expedited in light of the recent COVID-19 context and the need for outdoor social spaces. As a result, there is a need for pace around this commission and the project is expected to be fully delivered by summer 2021.

Bromley High Street aerial photo

Councillor Michael Rutherford, Bromley Town Ward said:

“I am excited by this new investment in our town centre. People like spending time in Bromley because of its green spaces, heritage and great range of shops, restaurants and bars. I expect the new proposals to encourage people to use the High Street throughout the year.

Over recent years, the Council has invested in lighting to highlight our historic buildings, added new planters and installed more benches to help our older and less mobile residents. The forthcoming improvements will continue this trend of making our town centre even better for all Bromley residents.”

The project is currently at early feasibility phases and consultations with key stakeholders will define the brief for the pieces: where they go, what they do and how big they are. At concept stages the designs will be presented back to the wider public prior to progressing to the next detail design stages.