Brent Cross Town, Barnet – Related Argent and London Borough of Barnet with Allies & Morrison and Makower Architects et al.

The £8 billion, 180-acre Brent Cross Town (BXT) development is one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe. In 2022, BXT delivered local amenities and social infrastructure first, including a visitor pavilion, a cluster of new shops and restaurants and Claremont Park. Initiatives such as ‘Project Play’ and ‘Flourishing index’ to measure wellbeing support a commitment to community.

Who is on the project team? 

Masterplan architects: Allies & Morrison and Makower Architects

Other consultants:

Hawkins Brown, ACME Architects, Arup, Steer and Watermans, Buro Happold, Macreanor Lavington, Kjellander Sjoberg Architects, Studio Egret West, Shed KM, dRMM, Squire & Partners, David Morley Architects, Glenn Howells Architects, Townshend Landscape Architects, Gillespies, East Architecture, Moxon Architects, Erect Architecture, BD Landscape, Applied Landscape Design, London Wildlife Trust, Gardiner &Theobald, Whittam Cox Architects - working on Plots 12 & 13, Conran and Partners, Woods Bagot, Sweco, Atelier 10, AKT II, Ramboll, Cast Consulting -cost consultants, Tower 8, Loop Engineering, Expedition, F&G, Heyne Tillett Steel, Olsson Fire and Risk, FMDC and Thornton Tomasetti, Sandy Brown, Hoare Lea, Atomik Architecture, Andy Sturgeon Garden Design, Galldris (early infrastructure works), Volker Fitzpatrick (early infrastructure works, Midgard

Describe the context of this project and the point it has reached in its development. When is the project expected to complete? 

Brent Cross Town (BXT) is one of the largest regeneration projects in Europe. The £8 billion, 180-acre development, delivered by Related Argent and Barnet Council, is transforming an overlooked, underprovided area into a thriving, inclusive net zero carbon town. Over the next 15 years, it will create nearly 7,000 new homes, a new knowledge and innovation hub with 3m sq ft of new office space and a new high street, as well as 50 acres of parks and playing fields. 

In 2022, BXT definitively moved from being an idea to a reality. In line with its “from the ground up” principle, BXT has delivered local amenities and social infrastructure first, while also making progress – in a challenging market – to attract significant inward investment. 

Construction started on the first new affordable homes and student accommodation, with residents moving in from late 2024. The opening of the Visitor Pavilion, a cluster of new shops and restaurants, and Claremont Park; the first of seven new permanent parks and green spaces, has enhanced the offer for the existing community. 

A joint venture with Invesco Real Estate enabled the start of the first phase of development, delivering homes to buy, homes to rent and new retail and leisure. Sheffield Hallam University also signed up as the first anchor occupier.

BXT recently unveiled one the UK’s largest public artworks, an innovative ‘wrap’ around a new primary electrical substation. In 2023, the new Brent Cross West station will open, connecting Brent Cross with central London

How are you seeking to foster community, welcome visitors and attract tenants? How are you responding to changing demographics, behaviour, market context, policy, transport habits and the climate crisis since winning planning? 

BXT is founded on four pledges: 

1. To be a net zero carbon town by 2030

2. To be a place where all can flourish

3. To be London’s home for sport and play

4. To drive new connections

Each pledge will enable BXT to respond to the needs of the local community and broader north London in addressing the climate crisis, enhancing health and wellbeing, and fostering social connectivity. Aiming to prioritise quality of life for existing communities, BXT is delivering amenities and local infrastructure first. With new parks, public artwork, playgrounds, restaurants, and cafes amongst the first to be delivered, ensuring the local community feels the benefit of the scheme from the outset. 

BXT is designed as a 15-minute town. The new high street, with 100,000 sq ft of retail/hospitality space for c.50 occupiers, will meet the day to day needs of existing communities and the 12,000 people estimated to be living or working in the town by 2028. It will also support its community to lead more sustainable, healthier lives by enabling active travel, with a low-speed cycle friendly road network, and respond to the post-pandemic desire to be closer to green spaces, with 50 acres of enhanced public parks and playing fields. Through its partnerships with sporting organisations, BXT aims to improve diversity and inclusion in sports participation with initiatives like the October 2022 #TimeTogether campaign with Women in Sport which encouraged mums and teenage girls to exercise together.

What is your sustainability strategy and how are you mitigating carbon use and construction pollution? 

BXT has committed to: 

• Be a net zero carbon town by 2030, at the latest 

• Use 100% renewables for supplies controlled by Brent Cross Town

• Deliver 40% reduction in embodied carbon, compared with standard current practice 

• Achieve biodiversity net gain 

BXT aims to set a new standard for environmental sustainability. A whole life carbon approach, incorporating circular economy principles and prioritising climate change resilience, is adopted throughout the design of the town and its buildings. Through innovative construction, the use of timber construction where possible and by minimising waste, embodied carbon is being addressed from the outset. The town will be supplied by an on-site energy network created by energy company Vattenfall, supplying low-to-zero carbon heating and hot water to all buildings. Commercial buildings will also benefit from low carbon cooling generated by the centralised energy network. Only unavoidable carbon emissions will be offset through the careful and considered use of verified offsetting programmes. 

BXT sustainability in action: 

• The 3-storey Visitor Pavilion uses cross-laminated timber (CLT) and glulam beams to reduce its carbon footprint. The carbon emissions of the foundations were reduced by using cement alternatives. 

• In the primary substation enclosure, 50% of the structure was reused steel from the oil industry, reducing embodied carbon by 40%, while the foundations used a combination of low-cement concrete and ‘Earth Friendly Concrete’ – a cement-free concrete which reduces embodied carbon by 70%

Describe the social impact of the project: How is this place contributing to the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of its citizens? 

BXT is committed to aligning commercial value with positive social impact and aims to be a place where all can flourish. It has created the ‘Flourishing Index’ with the University of Manchester, an innovative long-term research tool which measures the collective wellbeing of the local community. Data collection started in 2022 and will run throughout the development, creating a feedback loop and establishing an entirely new metric that analyses collective wellbeing from start to finish. 

BXT’s ‘Project Play’ initiative embodies the ambition to create a multi-sport destination that can transform lives. BXT will deliver unrivalled inclusive amenities and create opportunities to participate in sports, engage in play and get active. Partnerships – including with Sport England and Women in Sport – are integrating expert advice into the planning of the exemplar sport and play provision. 

BXT aims to create quality jobs, with 27,000 jobs being created through the development and a target of 20% local employment with 6% of the workforce being apprentices or trainees. To date, 21% of employees have come from the Borough of Barnet. A pre-apprenticeship training academy has been launched and a partnership with Women into Construction. 

The Brent Cross Town Community Fund, now in its fourth year, supports local small charities, community organisations and individuals making a positive impact in the local area. Since its launch, the fund has worked with 42 local projects and awarded £140,000.