A five-strong shortlist of UK and international architects and designers has been unveiled to potentially become strategic master-planners for the £8bn Thamesmead Waterfront development in south-east London.

They will now enter the final phase of a competition designed to appoint strategic master-planners with the visionary and strategic ability to help shape an enormous new neighbourhood, which covers 100 hectares. 

If selected they will work alongside Peabody and Lendlease who have entered into a Joint Venture to plan and deliver a project that will create the brand new town centre, which will be designed to meet the challenges of the post-pandemic world.

The five shortlisted teams are:

• Allies and Morrison with Jas Bhalla Architects; SLA; Ramboll; Montagu Evans; and Frances Holliss. 
• Prior + Partners (with Arup; West 8; The Place Bureau; Alison Brooks Architects; Turner Works; Marc Koehler Architects; JA Projects; Schulze+Grassov; Soundings; and Sage Culture).
• Studio Egret West & Cobe (with Dark Matter Labs; Studio Weave; Freehaus Design; Yinka Ilori Studio; AKTII; Hilson Moran; and Biomatrix Water).
• Urban Orchestra led by Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design, Mikhail Riches, Haptic and Expedition with Create Culture; Gardiner and Theobald; Gibson Thornley; GS Solutions;  Innovation First; Kjellander Sjöberg; LOLA; Madeleine Kessler Architects;  Mary Duggan Architects; Nick Elias Studio; Nordic – Office of Architecture; William Matthews Architects and ZCD Architects.
• White Arkitekter (Publica; Tredje Natur; Central Saint Martins; Public Works; Bohn & Viljoen; Buro Happold; GL Hearn; and Aurora).

Bek Seeley, managing director of development for Lendlease in Europe, said: “We’ve been hugely impressed with the quality of the teams that have come forward. There is a superb mix of expertise from both the UK and overseas. And we’ve been particularly impressed with the smaller practices that are playing key roles within the shortlisted teams.”

All of the shortlisted teams will now be interviewed by a panel of external partners, curated by the Joint Venture partnership. Further details of the membership of the panel will be released in due course and a winner of the competition is expected to be announced in April.

John Lewis, Peabody executive director Thamesmead, said: “Thamesmead is a remarkable place and the project we are working on will require a remarkable team of master-planners. Their task will be to help us deliver a scheme that will make a real difference to people’s lives. We’ve been very encouraged by the work we’ve seen so far and look forward to announcing a winning team later this year.”