Urban Regeneration: The Brentford Project
Client: Ballymore & London Borough of Hounslow
Challenge
The Brentford Project is a consented urban regeneration scheme comprising 876 homes, 50 retail units, arts centre and health club. The development occupies a large part of the historic core of Brentford.
Located on the main Roman road west from London to Silchester, Brentford developed as a Roman town and subsequent Saxon settlement and Medieval & Post-Medieval town. Consequently, The Brentford Project is located in an area of high archaeological potential.
After years of consulting on the project, Orion was appointed to manage the archaeological works required to the discharge of the archaeological conditions on the hybrid consent.
Approach
This project required an informed and collaborative approach to heritage management to meet its ambitions.
Orion’s specialist team worked with Historic England to agree the right approach to evaluation and mitigation investigations. From here, Orion procured and managed a detailed research programme. This included an enhanced desk-based assessment of Brentford, an assessment of the historic buildings within the site & the wider Brentford townscape and the enhancement of the Brentford area of the Greater London Historic Environment Record.
This detailed research informed the approach that Orion’s team employed in procuring and managing the archaeological and geoarchaeological evaluation and mitigation investigation of development site.
Part of the development comprised the grade II* listed Church of St Lawrence and its graveyard. Orion provided archaeological input to the design and reserved matters planning application and expertly managed the legal process with the Ministry of Justice and Department of Levelling Up, Homes and Communities to agree the archaeologically-led exhumation and reinterment of burials from areas of disturbance.
Sensitive and timely collaboration with Ballymore, Historic England, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Bishop of London and other interested parties was essential to the success of this work.
This project also involved an ambitious public outreach programme which was delivered under Orion’s professional management during varying Covid restrictions during 2020 and 2021.
Outcome
Our informed and collaborative approach to the project enabled the delivery of a complex archaeological programme within a challenging construction schedule.
We continue to work with Ballymore to run the archaeological mitigation excavations required for phase two of the scheme, the management of the post-excavation programme and the final publication of results of the excavation in the coming years.
