Timber Square
Where commerce and culture collide
Our design for Timber Square maximises the potential of this unique site, reimagining a former railway depot with two landmark buildings to complete a workplace, community, and cultural campus.
Our project vision was inspired by William Hogarth’s illustrations of the 18th-century Southwark Fair, celebrating the borough’s ongoing role as a melting pot of non-conformist communities, as well as Southwark’s rich industrial history. The railway arches form the foundation of this transformation, providing 1,950 sqm of retail and cultural space that activates the ground floor and public realm above the existing arches.
At the heart of the scheme, the Oculus—a dramatic circular cut through the arches— brings natural light into the ground-floor public spaces. A sinuous industrial stair wraps around the perimeter, connecting the podium and arches level.
Sitting above the arches are two new commercial buildings that deliver over 50,000 sqm GIA of highly flexible workspace, enabling adaptable configurations to suit diverse tenant needs.
The designs for Timber Square are informed by a foresight study examining emerging trends and workspace indicators affecting the London Borough of Southwark. By looking at environmental, social, and economic factors, we projected different scenarios for the area and identified specific interventions for our client to take forward.
Click here to learn more about Foresight, a new service helping our clients make informed decisions about the future in the face of global uncertainty.
In the case of Timber Square, the key drivers affecting the future of the site included hybrid work, Bankside’s position in the central activity zone, and the London night-time economy.
Based on our analysis, we emphasised the importance of an ecology of retail and cultural spaces in and around the railway arches to encourage flexibility, overlapping programming, and deeper community engagement.
Project details
Project name: Timber Square
Location: Southwark, London, UK
Service: Foresight
Value: > £100M
Scope: Architecture, Interior design
Clients: Landsec
Status: Live
Project management: Opera
MEPH, sustainability & BREEAM assessor: Atelier Ten
Structural and civil engineeering: Pell Frischmann
Fire engineering & security consultant: Hoare Lea
Cost management & CDM principal designer: Gardiner & Theobald
Planning consultant, heritage & townscape: Montagu Evans
Vertical transportation: D2E
Landscape design: Churchman Thornhill Finch
Acoustic engineers: Sandy Brown
Specialist lighting design: Atelier Ten
BIM consultant: Turner & Townsend