C40 Good Practice Guides: London - Central Saint Giles

Summary

Central Saint Giles is a redevelopment project in central London, which aimed to create new office and residential space close to important transit hubs. The mixed-use space includes 46,000 square metres of offices – almost double that of the old St Giles Court – and over 100 apartments surrounding a new public square with cafes, restaurants and retail units, increasing density on the site through the introduction of 15-storey and 11-storey high buildings.^xxx The development minimises its environmental impact through biomass boilers, planted roof terraces, recycled rain and grey water, and extremely limited parking.^xxxi

Results

The development was completed in 2010 and has since attracted major firms such as Google and Mindshare. It was also nominated in November 2010 for the London Planning Awards under the Best New Place to Live category.^xxxii

Reasons for success

Central Saint Giles has succeeded in revitalising a large area in central London by investing in high-quality offices and residences but emphasising shared, public spaces at the same time. Despite the high densities achieved on the site, the buildings encircle a publicly accessible courtyard with cafes and restaurants to increase the quality of public realm. There are only ten car parking spaces due to the local planning authority insisting the development be largely car-free, with each parking space at a cost of £100,000, thereby creating a strong financial incentive to use other modes of transport.^xxxiii

When/why a city might adopt an approach like this

Cities redeveloping areas close to high-capacity public transport can learn from the Central Saint Giles project on how to provide densities whilst also creating high-quality public realm and reducing private vehicle use.

C40 Good Practice Guides

C40's Good Practice Guides offer mayors and urban policymakers roadmaps for tackling climate change, reducing climate risk and encouraging sustainable urban development. With 100 case studies taken from cities of every size, geography and stage of development around the world, the Good Practice Guides provide tangible examples of climate solutions that other cities can learn from. 

The Transit Oriented Development Good Practice Guide is available for download here. The full collection of C40 Good Practice Guides is available for download here.  

All references can be found in the full guide.