Meridian Water
Helping Enfield to take spaces, boxes and buildings... and turn them into a real place.
We worked with London Borough of Enfield’s senior executive, regeneration and place teams, as well as their advisors and partners, to create an idea that captured their vision for Meridian Water — the £6 billion regeneration project in Enfield, and the biggest local authority-run development in London.
The challenge
Meridian Water was a new city within a city: thousands of homes, its own station, a new community — none of it yet built. Enfield needed everyone involved, from national politicians to the people living next door, to feel part of it and believe in what it could become.
Why it was difficult
Building on that scale means years of disruption before anyone sees the benefit. The place had to exist as an idea before it existed on the ground — one that every stakeholder could get behind and that could be brought to life gradually as the development grew. And the local community had to believe it was for them, not another gentrified corner of London.
Our approach
We started with the people who would live with it: we spoke to the local community. We then worked closely with Enfield, its architects and engineers to shape the idea of the place — its character, its attitude and what it would offer Enfield and London — and to give the whole project a sense of optimism that people could share.
What we produced
A brand for Meridian Water, but more than that: the attitude and identity of a place that existed first in people’s minds, ready to be carried through everything the project would say and do over the years ahead.
What the work provides
Enfield gained a single, believable idea of Meridian Water that its partners, politicians and community could all recognise and rally behind, and an identity built to last the life of the development.
“I would rather speak to pioneers than consultants, as pioneers tell you something new whereas consultants tell you things that have been done before.”
Peter George, Programme Director, Meridian Water