Gascoigne Road is a public realm and street improvement programme in the rapidly transforming Gascoigne neighbourhood in Barking, London.

The project was identified as a key placemaking opportunity in ‘The Big Picture’ Strategy (2020), and initiated by BeFirst in 2021. The street regeneration looks to unite severance between established local community groups and social organisations through providing a healthy walking and cycling route, a series of richly biodiverse habitats, and spaces for meeting, socialising and play. A dual process of co-design and public engagement with local schools, resident groups and other key stakeholders shaped the project’s detailed design, which offers a safe, sustainable, biodiverse, and inclusive streetscape with two new pocket parks.

Co-creation is core to the project, the proposals were shaped by the local knowledge, we listened to those who knew the site and what it and they needed. Our team worked closely with a diverse range of stakeholders, ranging from a cohort of 30 primary school children, the Gascoigne Residents Forum, representatives from the Al-Noor Cultural Centre, Studio 3 Arts, local nurseries and Gascoigne Primary School.

The transformation of Gascoigne Road is a small project with significant socio-environmental impact to the local community. The existing road is heavily congested with intensive vehicular use, air pollution and dangerous driving, affecting adjacent residents, and hundreds of children every day. By expanding the public realm, introducing sustainable drainage systems, as well as, new and improved crossings, a road of fumes and noisy traffic has the chance for a breath of fresh air.

Introducing new trees, groundflora and shrubs, will encourage more pollinators and wildlife to thrive ensuring that the site is a place for both human and non-human visitors to spend time in. New play equipment and places to sit, rest and gather are reclaimed from the in between spaces of modernist housing blocks, offering much needed spill out for the schools, surgery, mosque and arts centre lining the street.

The project was submitted for Planning Approval in April 2024.