London City Airport

Dockside Path

Working as a sub-consultant to Atkins, Tapestry were appointed to lead the masterplanning and public realm design in the dockside areas at London City Airport, as part of their City Airport Development Project (CADP).

The work encompassed designing more than 1km of dockside land adjacent to the King George V Dock in East London, where the airport is situated.  It was earmarked to provide a number of ancillary spaces to support the operation of the airport, and incorporated a new hotel, car parking, management buildings, car hire facilities, taxi parking facilities, and an energy centre. It was also to house the UK’s first Digital Control Tower.

Our brief was to develop layouts which would successfully incorporate all of the required facilities while also maintaining a high quality pedestrian route along the dock edge, and preserving as many of the heritage features from the old docks as possible. Our proposals looked to incorporate blue-green infrastructure where possible, mindful of the complex requirements of both the airport and dock management authority in terms of minimising the risk of bird strike for aircraft, and preventing pollution of the dock water.

We also wanted to make sure that the wider local community were welcomed in and had access the site, while looking to incorporate a new northern entrance to the King George V DLR Station, which is currently not accessible from the airport. The scheme also had to factor in the delivery programme and accommodate a number of temporary uses as we worked to the final condition.

Proposed Dockside Design Scheme