Let’s plan the Old Kent Road Meanwhile Years. Transforming the Old Kent Road will take time, with changes appearing incrementally over the next 10-20 years. The proposed OKR Meanwhile Years strategy aims to create social, cultural, and commercial opportunities along the high street before and during the delivery of major infrastructure and mixed-use developments.

With LEX as a key anchor and prototype at the center of Old Kent Road, we propose repurposing car parking spaces along the high street to increase footfall and vibrancy. This approach will strengthen communities and prototype new programs as Old Kent Road undergoes significant change. The meanwhile structures will be designed for disassembly and reuse, modelled on the construction of LEX.

Focusing on the introduction of social infrastructure to balance commercial activities with community purposes, our strategy aims to support the area’s population, one of the most diverse and youngest in the borough. Developed by architecture practice what if: projects, who also developed LEX in collaboration with Nicholas Okwulu (Pempeople), the proposal explores ways to make the high street “genuinely inclusive, participative, accessible, equitable, innovative, and a prosperous place” (Reference: GLA, High Streets & Town Centres Adaptive Strategies).

Plans were shown at LEX 2 in June 2024 as part of the exhibition “if you pass go”.