As part of Bankside Urban Forest, Southwark Council, Better Bankside and Design for London have commissioned architects Adams and Sutherland, and Peter Brett Associates to develop a vision for improving the public realm along Great Suffolk Street.  The brief calls for proposals to link existing and emerging developments and places along the street through a range of both street-wide and site-specific improvements that can be delivered incrementally over time as resource becomes available.

Better Bankside and the design team teamed up with Bankside Residents' Forum, BOST, Richard Reynolds our local Guerrilla Gardener and collaborative artist Ania Bas to hold a uniquely creative consultation event along Great Suffolk Street on 18^th August.  The event gave the design team the opportunity to gather views on their early proposals.

You can find a summary of what people thought of the initial proposals here. In general people were pleased to see attention to the public realm south of Southwark Street, and agreed that work needed to be done to improve the local environment along the street.  More green space, tree planting, and places for people to sit and rest were mentioned as being important to people.  Respondents were also keen to see a better range of shops and amenities supported along the street.

The consultation focused around a central information ‘hub’ with a number of volunteer artists working along the street helping to capture peoples’ views on the proposals.  The evening was wrapped up with a sing song in the rain when local singing group the Nightingales based at Blackfriars Settlement joined proceedings later in the day.

The artists who took part and the results of their endeavors are shown in the links below.  A big thanks to all the artists who worked with us for adding such great value and enthusiasm to the day.

Curator: Ania Bas 

Large Scale Drawing by Ella Phillips and Ben H 

Photography Project by Andre Verissimo and Jan Lee

Photography Project by Banu Cansever Schmid and Valeriya Vygodnaya 

Consultation Taxi by Hannah Metcalfe, Khairana Dewi, Kiera Blakey and Rosamund Knight

Documentation by Tobias Marshall

For more information about the Great Suffolk Street project, please contact Valerie Beirne at Better Bankside on vb@betterbankside.co.uk or Dan Taylor at Southwark Council on dan.taylor@southwark.gov.uk