Church Street is a historic market street in Westminster, straddling one of the borough’s most deprived wards. The Triangle demarcates a strategic and economic divide between the more affluent antiques quarter in the north-east and the local market occupying the south-west. At street level, the weekday market has struggled to diversify its offer, while accessibility was limited by the closure of the half-timbered public toilet.
In 2018, Westminster City Council appointed JKA to work with local people to develop ideas that would bridge the divide. Through open workshops and public events, we shaped a strategy to bring vacant shops back into productive use, repair building frontages, re-open a public toilet. Outside, a traffic lane has been removed to reconnect the public toilet and café into the Triangle and the market to an expanded public realm. Meandering gabions, filled with old roof tiles from the toilet roof and York stone salvaged from nearby repaving, provide sociable but informal seating arrangement to support food stalls while also welcoming residents. Backrests in folded metal ensure that users of varying mobility can comfortably spend time in the Triangle.
The project received funding from the Mayor of London in 2019 and works were completed on site in 2023.
Westminster’s wider Church Street Masterplan will bring new homes, retail, community space, public realm and green space over the next 15 years. Meanwhile, the improvements to the Triangle, provide vital infrastructure to support the market’s food stalls and ensure that residents and visitors can share public space while their neighbourhood is changing.
The proposals holistically address the area’s deficiencies, combining support for existing businesses with the creation of workspace for small enterprises, establishing vital infra-structure for the market and creating public space for local people.
