Tottenham is undergoing rapid change, not least in the vicinity of its large new football stadium. Muf Architecture/Art and Authentic Futures were commissioned to provide proposals to improve the environs and public realm of White Hart Lane itself – one of the area’s oldest streets and increasingly traffic clogged. Robert’s research underpins the proposals for…

A small building with a big local impact, the statutorily listed public toilets at Bruce Grove in North London have been empty for decades but are set to be converted to a new use with GLA Good Growth funding. Authentic Futures is working with DK-CM on proposals to repair the above- and below-ground elements and…

A narrative informing the regeneration of Plymouth’s post-war city centre. Authentic Futures was part of the team devising a public realm strategy for Plymouth City Council as part of its Better Places scheme. The practice provided a heritage narrative to underpin design interventions in the mid-century city centre and urged the declaration of a city…

Online exhibition and draft guidance for Historic England on identity and place. Robert was commissioned to provide heritage input into Historic England’s Pride of Place project to identify and celebrate LGBTQ heritage places and the people associated with them such as Anne Lister and Edward Carpenter. He conducted research, co-wrote an online exhibition and prepared…

Public Realm strategy for LB Tower Hamlets with Muf Architecture/Art and J&L Gibbons. With Crossrail and the creation of a new town hall for Tower Hamlets, the area around Whitechapel High Street and the Royal London Hospital is undergoing profound change and an intensified use of its public realm. Authentic Futures was part of a…

Heritage advice underpinning the competition brief to devise a new context for one of the UK’s most important churches. This Grade I listed church in Bristol is one the grandest in the country but its surroundings have been degraded in the post-war period with nearby demolitions and large highways projects segregating the churchyard from its…

Heritage input into public realm proposals into one of London’s oldest squares. Originally the open space between a monastery and a nunnery, Clerkenwell Green is one of London’s most historic enclaves. However, while its edges have been substantially redeveloped or restored, the open space itself, has become run down with ever increasing pedestrian and vehicular…

Pre-application heritage assessment and advice for the redevelopment of two housing sites at Oxford Castle and Osney. Beyond Oxford’s central colleges survive important medieval streets and archaeology. Authentic Futures prepared heritage advice for two post-war housing sites where redevelopment was proposed. The first, a former hostel directly abutting the castle walls (a Scheduled Monument) and…

Heritage impact assessments with vPPR, Simon Hurst and Russell Sage for a new boutique townhouse hotel. The ‘Henry’ here refers to Jane Austin’s banker brother who lived in a newly built townhouse in Marylebone. This history was uncovered as part of winning planning permission and listed building consent for a serviced apartment/hotel project undertaken with…

Heritage and townscape impact assessment for expansion of historic former tramworks into apartments, workspace and restaurant use. Historical research by Authentic Futures revealed that this Dalston building on the north side of Gillett Square started off life as a drive-through tramshed before going through various incarnations including use as a clothing factory before arriving at…

Heritage advice and impact assessment for the conversion of a redundant station to creative uses. This redundant former station in London’s docklands became a small railway museum (with a scheme by Julian Harrap) before funding dried up and the building was left empty and decaying once more. Authentic Futures provided the heritage advice and a…

Heritage advice on public realm improvements in Covent Garden. Earlham Street in London is one of the historic streets radiating from Seven Dials in Covent Garden. Working with LDA Design, Authentic Futures, devised a public realm scheme to improve the appearance of the street including provisions for improved market pitches. The scheme drew on the…

Heritage Statement and expert witness for Darling Associates on its successful housing and office development. Once an extensive public school on the fringe of Windsor town centre, this sensitive site, surrounded by heritage assets including a conservation area and listed buildings, had been used for a variety of uses before falling into dereliction. Authentic Futures…

Characterisation study informing the regeneration and reconnection of the north London retail district. Wood Green in LB Haringey is north London’s largest metropolitan shopping centre. This retail character is layered on top of a diverse history that encompasses industry, historic infrastructure such as the New River, and a pattern of common land that lends the…

Design and Planning Guidance for the creative quarter plus conservation area appraisal and designation. With Muf and dRMM. One of London’s most celebrated creative quarters, Hackney Wick was facing radical change in the wake of the 2012 Olympics held on the opposite bank of the River Lee. Demand for residential in the historic former industrial…

In progress: A masterplan with DKCM for HAC’s expansion of its historic campus of listed and locally listed buildings. Working with architects DK-CM, Authentic Futures is devising a masterplan for a successful and expanding arts centre housed in a former school at the edge of London’s greenbelt. The aim is to insert contemporary buildings into…

In progress: A heritage-led regeneration framework (SPD) for Liverpool’s creative quarter. Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle is in the hinterland of the city’s waterfront – between the city centre and the Anglican Cathedral. Once integral to the fabric of Liverpool, it has been long isolated by bombing and slum clearance. In recent years it has emerged as…

Robert provided heritage advice for Argent’s £700 million regeneration project across 7 ha of central Birmingham. Working for Alan Baxter Associates, Argent Group, and masterplanner Glenn Howells Architects, Robert led the heritage and townscape advice on Birmingham’s 7 ha Paradise redevelopment. Numerous listed structures, tall buildings, and infrastructure issues including the removal of an arm…