Water
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WW+P was founded in 1985, and the design of large and complex infrastructure projects has been at the heart of the practice since the very beginning. 40 years of working on this type and scale of project has driven a unique approach to design, delivery and working with others. Our starting point is always two-fold: to make sure the built outcome works brilliantly, and to make buildings and places that enrich people’s lives. Our expertise in nationally significant infrastructure projects through consenting regimes including hybrid-bill and DCO means we understand not only how to deliver good design but how to evidence it. We work closely and collaboratively with other disciplines, Clients and stakeholders. We are often the custodian of the design vision, but also a key design coordinator, providing strategic leadership, resolving inter-disciplinary issues and challenging the team to achieve more. We have a detailed understanding of other building disciplines and of the rigorous technical and assurance demands of operating infrastructure. We understand the commercial imperative of new infrastructure in terms of funding and value, and how this can be harnessed. But just as importantly we also know the scale of the impact these projects can have on people and places, the enormity of the potential for a positive legacy, and how to realise this through every stage of the design.
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Studios
430
12
40
People
Studios
Years Experience
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Values
People-Focused
Inventive
Responsible
Placing people at the heart of everything we do.
Clear thinking and a rigorous conceptual approach.
Environmentally and socially aware.
The everyday human experience is the starting point for our design. Whether designing for users, passengers, residents, or passers-by, we make buildings and spaces to enrich people’s lives.
Strong design concepts are the foundation of good design. Born out of experience, innovation, and a deep appreciation of the character of place, we deliver highvalue, sustainable solutions to inspire and delight.
We are careful to work with responsible clients and project partners and prioritise projects with the greatest benefits to people’s lives.
Great design is produced by great people. We aspire to provide a supportive and fulfilling working environment to nurture the talent of our global professional team.
Craft is fundamental to our work, whether expressed through elegant details or through physical modelmaking which is an integral part of our design process.
Teamwork, collaboration, and empathy are inherent in good design. Recognising when to support, and when to lead, we bring rigour, responsibility and humility to each project.
We embrace construction challenges to generate elegant, durable structures and spaces that are simple to build and easy to maintain.
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We create buildings, spaces and infrastructure that will have a long-lasting impact. Focussing on the human experience ensures that we create healthy places that lift the spirits and are sustainable for future generations. Our ethics inform our behaviours, how we support our staff, and relate to the world around us. They are the foundation to an approach that always strives to make a positive difference.
Portfolio | Introduction
Approach
Listen First
Think Sustainably
Create a Clear Vision
Deliver a Crafted Response
We listen carefully to understand the problem before attempting to solve it.
We establish key sustainable principles upfront that underpin our design decisions.
We create unique, compelling narratives that focus on the user experience.
We interrogate the unique challenges of every project to discover the optimum solution.
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Expertise
Architecture
wwparchitects.com
Landscape & Public Realm
Planning & Masterplanning
Design Guidance
Regenerative Design
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Sectors
Transport
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Aviation
Bridges & Infrastructure
Housing
Workplace
Transit Oriented Development
Civic, Culture & Community
Planning & Masterplans
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Strategic Planning
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Strategic Planning
Watercourses, wetlands, flood-risk areas are all a common feature in strategic plans. Our affinity to water comes with constraints and a highly regulated environment in terms of managing flood risk in the consenting process, tension between developable land and land given over to nature restoration, requirements for more costly infrastructure such as bridges, and the adoption and management of drainage infrastructure such as drainage ditches, SUDS and balancing ponds. Our starting point for strategic landscape planning is the thorough understanding of the character, dynamics and existing strategies that come with these landscapes, working closely with engineers and environmental consultants.
Bandirma Park landscape plan
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Fazeley to Middleton
Location Midlands, UK
Status Ongoing
Client HS2 Sector Transport
The Marston-Fazely Context Integration study, commissioned by HS2, aimed at improving the opportunities for active travel networks and landscape integration afforded by the project. Our study looked at the strategic landscape character areas, which included Kingsbury Waterpark and the wetlands of the River Tame and how people can currently access these areas for leisure and employment. The study initially mapped the network of existing road and active travel routes, before developing proposals for closing missing links, improved wayfinding, and small scale interventions such as picnic and sheltered rest areas, consistent with the landscape character and environmental protection of the sensitive wetland areas.
Marston-Fazely Context Integration study
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Ebbsfleet Central
Location Kent, UK
Status Complete
Client Ebssfleet Development Corporation
Area 125 hectares / 308 acres
Sector Transit Oriented Development
Ebbsfleet Masterplan is a new development around the HS1 Ebbsfleet Station in Kent. Conceived as a Garden City, a key aspect of the masterplan was to create an urban place which is highly integrated into the landscape and the Ebbsfleet Brook, a source of surface flooding within the development site. The approach for the masterplan was to shape the development parcels around the potential flood-risk area, turning it into a blue-green asset for the new residents at the heart of the development. The masterplan had to carefully develop the interfaces of the ground floor uses and access infrastructure with the flood risk zones, to ensure it met the requirements of the Environment Agency as part of the outline planning application.
Ebbsfleet Central Masterplan
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Balsall Common
Location Midlands, UK
Status Complete
Client HS2
Area 250 hectares
Sector Transport, Masterplanning
Balsall Common is a large village adjacent to the HS2 line with a substantial housing led masterplan allocated in the local plan, as well as several land-owners looking to develop their land. This land had Bayleys Brook running through it, the management of which had been neglected, leading to frequent surface flooding of local roads and the station car park. Both the land-owner for the masterplan and HS2 independently developed a drainage strategy as part of their undertaking, which missed the potential added value of holistic thinking. HS2 Ltd appointed WW+P to develop a village wide development framework, which looked at the benefits for a joint drainage strategy. The approach was an integrated landscape framework of wetlands, landscape mitigation and active travel network, which included nominal areas for flood-risk management and associated infrastructure requirements, such as foot and cycle bridges.
Development framework diagrams integrating wetlands and landscape
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Rural Water Management
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Rural Water Management Effective rural water management is vital to protecting landscapes, communities, and biodiversity, particularly in large-scale projects involving significant earthworks and infrastructure. Good design is central to achieving successful project outcomes. We work closely with engineers and environmental specialists to integrate sustainable drainage, flood mitigation, and habitat protection into rural settings. Our design-led approach balances technical performance with sensitivity to the existing landscape, heritage features, and ecological networks. By embedding water management strategies from the outset, such as attenuation ponds, swales, and naturalised channels, we minimise environmental impact and enhance long-term resilience. Embedding these elements into the wider design narrative derisks consenting challenges, garnering support from local planning authorities, communities and stakeholders.
Green Tunnel with enhanced environmental features to mitigate impact of major high-speed rail line
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HS2 River Cole Viaducts Location Midlands, UK
Status Ongoing
Client HS2 Sector Bridges & Infrastructure
Our work for HS2 on the River Cole Rail Viaducts includes one of the UK’s largest river diversions within the broader HS2 “Green Corridor” project, which is considered the largest single environmental project in the UK. The River Cole diversion is a realignment is necessary to allow for the construction of two 159-meter-long viaducts for the high-speed rail line. The river diversion was used as an opportunity to create new wetland habitats, increasing biodiversity and providing new local amenity spaces with raised walkways and cycle paths designed to remain usable even when partially flooded.
River Cole wetland habitat
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Urban Water Management
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Urban Water Management We champion nature-based solutions to manage the challenges of the urban environment. We weave blue-green infrastructure into the city’s fabric, turning roofs, streets and squares into interconnected blue-green resilient networks. Designing with nature provides a suite of co-benefits for the urban environment and the public, which conventional pipes and tanks cannot match. Water quality is improved, drought resilience boosted, carbon captures and social and economic value delivered. We see water as an opportunity for habitat creation and improving urban micro-climates. Letting water linger generates pocket wetlands and ephemeral environments that cool urban temperatures and provide habitats for wildlife to inhabit, along with flood storage. We create holistic green/blue infrastructure solutions, focusing on the choice of planting to ensure the natural benefits from vegetation can be fully integrated and utilised for the betterment of people and wildlife.
Integration of Guangzhou Metro infrastructure into the urban landscape
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Old Street Station Upgrade Location London, UK
Status Built
Client Transport for London
Project value £132 million
Sector Transport
Awards TfL Supplier Awards Outstanding environmental initaitative WAF Awards - Completed Buildings: Transport - Shortlisted
Old Street delivers a transformative approach to climate change adaptation. At its centre, the new entrance to the station is topped with a biodiverse green roof plumbed into an exemplar SuDS based circular drainage system, with rainwater overflow stored and pumped back up as irrigation. This is a hard-working landscape that includes rain gardens, permeable paving, water attenuation reservoirs and photo catalytic paving that removes pollutants from the air.
Old Street Station green roof
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Hereford Transport Hub Location Hereford, UK
Status Ongoing
Client Herefordshire Council
Project value £10 milllion
Sector Transport
Guided by a nature-informed, data-driven brief, we stitched together rain-gardens, drought-tolerant, resilient planting and biodiverse green-roof cycle shelters to manage water and flooding challenges and create an inviting gateway for Hereford Station and the new transport interchange hub. Extracting quantifiable data from planting and landscape features ensured a tailored response with enhanced ability to generate air, sequestrate carbon, remove pollutants and avoid water run-off. More than 80% of the softscape is open-ground, native vegetation to ensure optimal natural infiltration. The result is a hardworking public realm, cooler, cleaner and richly biodiverse.
New public realm featuring native vegetation
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Infrastructure Integration
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Infrastructure Integration We are hugely experienced in reconciling and fully integrating complex technical requirements across the multiple disciplines and stakeholders of major water and infrastructure projects. The scale of these infrastructure projects means both that they can take a long time to construct, causing ongoing disruption for local communities, and that they can have a significant impact on their context, both visually and environmentally. With a design life of up to 120 years, legacy is critical, one that can be directly felt by those in the vicinity. Our aim is always to minimise the impact, while maximising the benefits.
01 High quality landscape can mitigate the impact of city wide infrastructure
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Thames Tideway Location London, UK
Status Built
Client Thames Tideway Ltd
Project value £4 billion
Sector Infrastructure
Tideway is a £4 billion project to radically improve the health of the River Thames by intercepting combined sewer overflows along the river edge. We were lead Architect for the five sites in the Tideway East contract; these comprised sensitive sites at the edge of the river, sites within the curtilage of historic pumping stations and public parks. The driver for our designs were the configuration of massive belowground structures and operational access and maintenance necessary to meet the project technical requirements. Our design responses seamlessly incorporated these constraints and delivered high quality public realm that was grounded in a nuanced understanding of how people would use and inhabit these spaces, and how the sites could support wider biodiversity initiatives.
Thames Tideway shaft structure integrating art work
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Kenilworth Greenway Location Midlands, UK
Status Ongoing
Client HS2 Ltd Sector Bridges & Infrastructure
Forming part of the HS2 scheme, the landscape is designed to help the 700 metre long Burton Green Tunnel blend into the new natural landscapes which are being provided. The design restitches the landscape disrupted by the construction, restoring the original route of the Kenilworth Greenway, which will now run across the top of the new tunnel. An elevated topography of bunds has been used to create landscaped places of distinct character. Large-scale planting of native trees and shrubs will provide biodiverse habitats for wildlife, shield the Greenway visibility from the new railway, and re-establish vegetated connections to local woods.
Kenilworth Greenway across rail tunnel
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HS2 Bridges & Viaducts Location Midlands, UK
Status Ongoing
Client HS2 Ltd Sector Bridges & Infrastructure
Integrating infrastructure into sensitive locations, whether rural, peri-urban or city centre has been central to our work on the 90km of HS2. Bridges and viaducts for high speed rail, regional rail, road, pedestrians and cyclists have been among the most challenging structures along the route, crossing floodplains, rivers, canals and environmentally sensitive areas. We worked with stakeholders to not just integrate necessary infrastructure but to ensure it is visually sympathetic, in many cases enhancing the local setting and providing benefit to local communities. The “Blossom Walk” along the Delta Junction is a large scale example of this strategy. On residual land between tall HS2 viaducts we opened up and naturalising a canalised watercourse and introduced a community orchard, which has significant support from local charity and non-profit groups. Legacy and stewardship are a key component to the proposals, alongside understanding how landscapes will be funded, maintained and enjoyed. 01 Creating new canal side spaces under the new rail infrastructure 02 Green tunnel 03 New watercourse and nature reserve created alongside rail viaduct 04 Community Orchard at Delta Junction
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Elizabeth Line Shafts
Location London, UK
Status Built
Client Crossrail
Project value £125 million
Sector Bridges & Infrastructure
WW+P was appointed to act as the multi-disciplinary team lead to manage the design and delivery of the fit-out for the five central London shafts serving the Elizabeth Line. These are complex operational structures, requiring very careful interdisciplinary management and coordination to deliver full assurance and their critical functionality, in this case ventilation, escape and fire-fighter intervention. Below ground the layout is constrained by the fixed dimensions of the shaft, and above ground by carefully integrating them into their context. This was the top performing Crossrail contract, made possible by our commitment to collaborative working and skill in leading interdisciplinary design.
Mile End Elizabeth Line access shaft
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Footbridges
Ensuring new infrastructure maintains or enhances connectivity can involve the design and delivery of new pedestrian and cycle bridges, and even provide for equestrian use. Our approach involves working hand-in-glove with engineers to seek out elegant solutions to challenging issues, reducing cost and carbon along the way. This can be seen in our design for the Cowley Branch Bridge in Oxford where we proposed a laminated timber deck, achieving technical endorsement from Network Rail for the UK’s first new timber bridge over a railway. At Saltley and Aston for HS2 we responded to the challenge of removing lighting columns (a safety issue over high-speed rail) with an innovative low-level lighting design that provides enhanced lighting for pedestrians and cyclists whilst reducing light pollution and avoiding light spill to the ecological corridors along the canal and river below.
01 Dublin’s Irish War Memorial pedestrian Bridge 02 Ely Area pedestrian bridge study 03 Oxford’s Cowley Branch line pedestrian and cycle bridge
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Public Amenity
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Public Amenity
We have developed designs for visitor centres, leisure facilities, public amenities and access footbridges that deliver a long-lasting legacy for local communities. Our focus is always on how these structures sit within and compliment their setting, via the interplay of their form, materiality, and integration with the landscape.
01 Fen Visitor Centre conceptual sketch 02 Fen Visitor Centre community facility 03 Ullswater Yacht Club
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Services
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Stakeholder & Community Engagement We provide critical support to public engagement and stakeholder events, producing graphic material and frequently planning the format and structure of in-person sessions and workshops. We are skilled at presenting complex or technical projects or subjects in an accessible and engaging way, using a full range of visual material, including simple diagrams, rendered images and physical models all produced in-house.
01 Using local parks to bring consultation to the right people 02 Engaging with local residents using our models to aid discussion 03 Public consultation model for Hereford Interchange
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Arts & Culture Integration We have worked closely with Artists on major projects to develop and integrate art into infrastructure. We understand how to set and manage expectations on all sides and how to coordinate artistic integrity with the technical requirements of built or landscaped structures. Art can play an important role in rooting a project in its context, providing visual interest as a landmark and local pride.
01 HS2 “Bellingham” Bridge with light design by Liz West 02 Elizabeth line shaft with facade design 03 Local materials integrated into shaft design 04 Thames Tidewat shaft facade designed with local artist
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Ecosystem Services
Ecosystem services, the free climate control, filtration and habitat that living systems provide, sits at the heart of our work. Every tree, wetland and meadow we specify is chosen not just for beauty but for the measurable services it delivers—carbon capture, shade, cooling, biodiversity and cleaner air. Using our Landscape Information Management (LIM) platform we can model these benefits species-by-species, testing options until the landscape outperforms grey alternatives. LIM turns data into design moves: if an oak sequesters more CO2 and dampens noise better than a plane tree, the plan flexes. Dashboards translate the final scheme into carbon tonnes saved, litres of stormwater stored, and social value generated, empowering clients to champion resilient, nature-positive places.
Our Landscape Information Modelling is a holistic approach to ecosystem design
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Awards
RIBA London (South East) Region Award | Woolwich Elizabeth Line Station RIBA London Award Winner | Paddington Elizabeth Line Station RIBA National Award Winner | Paddington Elizabeth Line Station Azure, AZ Awards | Durham Meadoway Visioning Study Best Completed Building, Transport, WAF Awards | Paddington Elizabeth Line Station Ontario Association of Architects, Award of Excellence | Lawrence Orton Early Learning & Child Care Centre Global Design & Architecture Awards, Mixed Used (Concept) Winner (First Award) | Lawrence East Canadian Architect, Award of Excellence | 11 Brock Avenue AIA Canada Society, Design Award | Durham Meadoway Visioning Study Prix Versailles, Prix Versailles Winner | Passenger Stations Civic Trust Award | Paddington Elizabeth Line Station Civic Trust Award | Woolwich Elizabeth Line Station Civic Trust Special Transport & Infrastructure Award | Elizabeth Line Station Prix Versailles, Prix Versailles Winner | Passenger Stations Civic Trust Award | Paddington Elizabeth Line Station
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