Smithfield Market, City of London
Smithfield Market, City of London
We have been closely involved with the Smithfield district for over 40 years, both as a resident business and through our professional involvement in projects large and small.
Cattle and other livestock was traded at Smithfield since at least the tenth century. The Victorians moved this trade out to Islington in the 1850s. The whole Smithfield area was then radically reconstructed as an extraordinary multi-level complex of markets and goods depots.
The construction of a new Central Meat Market commenced in the 1860s to designs by the City Surveyor, Sir Horace Jones, with later phases completed in the 1890s. Hydraulic lifts brought carcasses up from the railway depot beneath.
In the twenty-first century the area was transformed by a series of large-scale projects, the launch of the Culture Mile in 2017, the opening of the Elizabeth Line, the relocation of the Museum of London to the General Market site, and forthcoming changes for the Meat Market site.
We first advised Crossrail on the potential impacts of tunnelling-related settlement on listed buildings before working on early concept designs for the redevelopment of the General Market, with an engineering focus on the lids of the cut and cover rail tunnels and their relationship with the market buildings. We have also advised on projects at key, neighbouring institutions including Barts Hospital, the Charterhouse and the Church of St Bartholomew the Great.
We then undertook a pioneering study of the wider area for Transport for London: The Farringdon Urban Design Study (compiled with East) looked at the potential impacts of the new rail links on an already overstretched street pattern. Then, for the City of London we contributed to the Culture Mile Look and Feel Strategy, collaborating with Fluid, combining transport and conservation advice, analysing character and highlighting opportunities.
Recently, with the meat market due to move out of its historic home, we provided structural engineering and heritage advice to the team preparing concept designs for the reuse of the Grade II* listed meat market.
The project aimed to transform the market into a multi-use, accessible campus, operating alongside the Culture Mile. The Grand Avenue would become a welcoming gateway, transformed by cutting a slot in the roadway, opening up hidden basements. This would allow ground-floor halls to be connected below ground, so they can work together for large events.
Accretions would be stripped away, revealing the historic structure, to be populated with new uses. Our analysis of the site in terms of its structural engineering and heritage significance informed these designs by Studio Egret West.
We were then asked to advise on the public realm scheme, by preparing a Smithfield Public Realm Statement of Significance, in order to inform the proposals by Hawkins\Brown. This study analysed the significance of the historic public realm and provided strategic advice for the design team.
Client: Various
Architect: Studio Egret West and Hawkins\Brown
Images: Courtesy of Studio Egret West