Competition for the Harrow Road Canalside Activation
London Festival of Architecture 2019

The London Festival of Architecture (LFA), and Westminster City Council (WCC) launched a competition to design a new public realm intervention along a stretch of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal passing through the Harrow Road area of north-west Westminster. Situated on a vacant stretch of towpath to the south of the canal, and bounded by railway land behind and the Westway above, the project will deliver an experimental cross section across the Grand Union Canal and adjacent towpath to demonstrate the opportunities to improve the amenity of the area and create a welcoming place that will encourage greater use.

Sophie Nguyen was pleased to be invited to be part of the judging panel, along with Ruchi Chakravarty (urban design coordinator, Westminster City Council), Hannah Gibbs (enterprise manager, London at Canal & River Trust), Biljana Savic (local architect & director, Maida Hill Neighbourhood CIC) Tamsie Thomson (director, London Festival of Architecture) and Frances Williams (technical editor, Architects’ Journal)

The winning team was the Co-Mooring, with Tomos.Design, Compendium and Studio Yu.