This is a guest post from PRD, the consultancy that kick-started our Intercity Exchange series in 2024. They’ve done groundbreaking work in Stratford, shared here by Director Barney Cringle and Senior Associate Director Amanda Robinson – a Future of London alumna and former Head of Projects.
We had a fantastic field trip in May 2025 with a mix of guests from Greater Manchester and London, starting with public realm transformation in the City of London and moving on to Stratford, the East Bank cultural hub and through the Olympic Park to Hackney Wick. You can find a post and who attended here.
Stratford Town Centre Vision and Strategy: place, purpose, and public value
Stratford is one of Europe’s largest regeneration areas which, despite rapid development during and after the 2012 Olympics, experiences significant poverty and issues of (a lack of) trust and engagement amongst local communities.
It is the key commercial hub in the London Borough of Newham, which is one of the largest, most densely populated and diverse local authorities in the UK.
Since 2018, borough Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz has been leading a transformative and radical agenda, reflecting manifesto commitments to address inequality and poverty, invest in young people, embed Community Wealth Building as the economic approach being adopted by the council, increase participatory democracy and respond to the climate emergency.
Over the course of two years, LB Newham, with support from PRD, adapted its Community Wealth Building and inclusive economy principles into a new corporate plan, Building a Fairer Newham – meaning these principles drive activity across all service delivery areas.
Understanding and repositioning Stratford’s role and significance
Stratford shows this approach in action. In 2022, LB Newham chose to forgo a ‘traditional’ masterplanning approach large-scale redevelopment and trickle-down community benefit. The council commissioned PRD to help find more nuanced approach to effect meaningful, community-oriented change.
To start, we challenged the market-led approach to key sites and the narrative that ‘old’ Stratford was a ‘lower-value’ location than the newer Westfield and Olympic Park areas. We redefined the economic geography of Stratford, discarding the concepts of ‘old’ and ‘new’, instead identifying neighbourhoods around the town centre under the concept of One Stratford.
PRD brought in new quantitative evidence on footfall, spending, and shops from the GLA’s High Streets Data Service to make the case for more locally-focused, day-to-day town centre amenities. We also positioned engagement efforts as part of an ongoing conversation rather than repeating the ‘introductory’ engagement that had gone before. This unlocked deeper reflections from local people on their day-to-day experience.
The vision and strategy
The new vision and strategy recognise that there will be development and economic growth in Stratford, but that they should respond to objectives that align with what local people want and need, and what the natural environment can bear. Instead of grand plans for redesign and redevelopment, the new vision and strategy focus on what local people feel is important and mirror council priorities of health, wellbeing, civic participation, inclusivity, representation, and environmental sustainability.
The vision applies these principles across key locations in the town centre, identifying smaller, more deliberate interventions that can be delivered in the short term or incrementally to build trust and demonstrate positive change for local people. It also identifies new strategies to help the council extract more social and economic value from the land and buildings it controls and enshrines the principle of ‘re-use first’ for existing buildings.
It’s happening now! The vision in action
The Stratford Town Centre Vision and Strategy doesn’t tie success to massive transformation, but to progressive change, which is already well underway:
- £30m of investment at Stratford Workshops brought a neglected workspace up to modern standard.
- London Creative Land Trust’s acquisition of Alice Billings House created new affordable space for artists and brought events such as exhibitions, artist residencies and wellbeing sessions.
- When the Stratford Centre’s Indoor Market closed at short notice, LB Newham responded quickly, recognising its value as a community asset and taking on its head lease.
- A public sector coalition is developing the case for investment in the improvement of Stratford station.
The Stratford Town Centre Vision and Strategy is just one example of a different and emerging approach to planning for the future of a place. It provides a basis for public leadership and mission-led public value that others can follow. It recognises the commercial value of the area and welcomes those who want to invest, but it sets clear terms for this to happen: not focusing on a future that is perfect, but a process that ensures it happens the right way.
The full strategy can be read here. PRD, Future of GM and Future of London are keen to hear about other places around the UK that are testing this approach. Drop us a line to share your experience or ask about Stratford, and see here for a write-up of our February 2021 visit, ‘A tale of two Stratfords‘.