Daylight now floods, just as it used to, through large Victorian windows into the magnificent huge Old Billiard room above the ticket hall at Peckham Rye station. This is the successful result of collaboration between The Peckham Society, Rye Lane & Station Action Group, Southwark Council, Southern Rail and Network Rail. The Peckham Society have now proposed the next stage – to restore the wooden floor and make the room fit for community and public use again. This is a significant contribution to the transformation of central Rye Lane (see here).                                                Â
Transforming Central Rye Lane
In 2008 the Council published an inspiring report on the business case for change at Peckham Rye Station. This would see over several years, the original square in front of the station restored and opened up, and the land between the railway lines on both sides of Rye Lane transformed into spaces for creative enterprises. Over the last few years, ideas have also been evolving for the development of the emerging Copeland Cultural Quarter on the other side of Rye Lane, right alongside the railway line. This site has already been meeting some of the increasing need for flexible spaces for creative and cultural enterprises, and fits exactly with the new plans for the station transformation. See how the two masterplans could come together to transform Central Rye Lane. Read more…
New Vision for Peckham Rye Station
Report from Southwark News 21 November 2008: http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,13050,440,00.htm
“NEW DESIGNS for Peckham Rye train station have been unveiled as the council presses ahead with plans to regenerate the area, despite the body blow that no tram will come there. A summit of key figures will sit down tomorrow and thrash out how the ambitious policy will be funded, with a discussion on how pressure can be applied to Network Rail to open up its purse strings.
If the plans were approved, areas at the front and back of Peckham Rye station will be transformed into a piazza leading onto Rye Lane, and a market area at the rear using the existing arches as access points. The meeting, led by Peckham Community Council, aims to change the instant impression people get when they walk out of the station. It will also attempt to make the station the focal point of the area.
The idea has been mooted for sometime but a council spokesman said this meeting and the plans were hoped to be a catalyst for the future. ” Read more …
Sun shines again on Open House walks
Following the successful Open House Weekend last year (see last year’s blog) people flocked again to take the Open House weekend walks led by The Peckham Society on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st September 2008 (see photos). This time there were around 100 on two walks. Again everyone enjoyed the magnificent views of Peckham and central London from the roof of the Bussey building. They enjoyed the refreshments in the CLF Arts Café and the Peckham Vision exhibition of the latest information about the tram & tram depot plans, and the ideas for that central area of Peckham town centre if the tram depot is not located there. The new images and plans for the emerging Copeland Cultural Quarter were included in the displays. They heard how the huge size and good solid condition of the historic Bussey building is providing spaces for new creative arts and music businesses.
The tours also looked at
- the behind-the-scenes preparation for the next twice monthly exhibition at the new (since last year) innovative Hannah Barry Gallery which is next door to the Bussey building. This demonstrates the scope for creative development of the whole business site which would otherwise be demolished for the proposed tram depot;
- the historic gems of Holdron’s Victorian arcades which, currently hidden by shop fittings, might be restored for commercial town centre use;
- the way all that would complement the opening up of the piazza in front of the fabulous gem of Peckham Rye station (listed finally this year to protect it for the future).
An alternative vision for Rye Lane Central
Peckham Vision has submitted initial comments for the PAAP (Peckham Area Action Plan): “It often appears that the town centre is conceived only as a long narrow linear shopping street, with relatively isolated opportunity/development sites. But there is the potential for viewing this area around Rye Lane Central in a very different way – as an integrated matrix with old and new buildings interlinked with open pedestrian spaces.” Read more and…
Sun shines on Open House walks
What a wonderful weekend in Peckham Central. The sun shone and over 140 people flocked to take the Open House weekend walks led by The Peckham Society on Saturday and Sunday (see photos). Everyone enjoyed the magnificent views of Peckham and central London from the roof of the Bussey building. They enjoyed the refreshments in the CLF Arts Café and the Peckham Vision exhibition of the latest information about the tram & tram depot plans, and the ideas for that central area of Peckham town centre if the tram depot is not located there.
The tours looked at the huge size and good solid condition of the historic Bussey building and how it is already providing spaces for new creative arts and music businesses; the scope for creative development of the whole business site which would otherwise be demolished for the proposed tram depot; the historic gems of Holdron’s Victorian arcades which, currently hidden by shop fittings, could be restored for commercial town centre use; the way all that would complement the opening up of the piazza in front of the station, now agreed as the aim by Southwark Council, the train companies and Southwark’s London Assembly representative; and how Bar Story and the Sassoon Art Gallery in Blenheim Grove behind the station show further signs of the burgeoning creative re-uses of historic architecture in Peckham Central.
See also:
CLF Weekender