Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station by Weston Williamson+Partners

Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station in east London was presented at the AT Awards live finals on 20 September 2023 to a jury comprising Rab Bennetts, Juliette Morgan, Neil Thomas, Peter Bishop, Nana Biamah-Ofosu, and Chair Isabel Allen. Read about how the project has stood the test of time.

Credit: Nicholas Guttridge

Completed
2014

London’s Pudding Mill Lane DLR station was conceived as an enabling project for the Elizabeth Line eastern portal, and a catalyst for urban regeneration within the post-Olympic legacy masterplan. The context-driven design by Weston Williamson + Partners comprises a simple, legible building with an integrated, safe public realm that is intuitive to navigate.

The station adopts a strong identity on the newly created Station Square, with a large portal structure framing the entrance and creating clear sightlines into the concourse. Vertical circulation to the elevated platforms is directed onto the square, underpinning the intuitive wayfinding strategy. The square itself forms a key interchange node with connections from the land-locked site serving both the station and wider neighbourhood, as well as a flexible forecourt space for circulation and the management of large event crowds.

Credit: Nicholas Guttridge

The station is the first of its kind on the DLR network to include inbuilt passive provision to safeguard against increasing passenger numbers. As such, the design allows for the easy inclusion of additional escalators, an enhanced urban realm around Station Square, and the use of the station undercroft for retail as the masterplan unfolds. Precast brick panels enable the lower section of the masonry exterior to be ‘peeled back’ and replaced with 1,000 square-metres of retail space, creating a vibrant street frontage and amenities to support the new communities taking shape around it.

Elsewhere, the project implements low carbon strategies through innovative UK-based construction methods. These include precast brick cladding, precast lightweight high- strength glass reinforced concrete cladding, and minimalist prefabricated glass panels with structurally bonded carrier frames. Many of the approaches developed with the DLR – in particular the use of prefabrication construction methods – are informing new light rail station redevelopment.