Borough Yards arches spring to life with a summer bash
The Borough Yards arches, part of the wider scheme designed by SPPARC in south London, welcomes public and brands in, as the latest phase of development completes

The Borough Yards arches have just opened, offering not only a wide selection of new retail options to the area, but also creating new publicly accessible space and a pedestrian zone behind Borough Market. The scheme connects previously inaccessible Victorian streets together and allows visitors to walk through the entire Borough Yards site for the first time, helping the whole neighbourhood spring to life.
Newly opened pedestrian area at Borough Yards
Borough Yards arches open with 2023 summer party
When architects SPPARC and developers MARK revealed the first phase of plans for Borough Yards to revive an industrial part of south London, the promise of an exciting new retail hub began to take shape under disused viaduct arches and industrial buildings. The launch of the arches sees the latest phase of development complete.
Under the arches at Borough Yards
Inaugurated with a big summer bash, the newly pedestrianised area at Borough Yards threw open its doors to the public at the end of June. The event was filled with music, a range of activities, food stalls and the opportunity to browse existing and newly opened stores including Ace & Tate, Amorino and MALIN+ GOETZ. Throngs of visitors passed through the site, both deliberately and inadvertently, following the new and intuitive walkways that now connect Stoney Street, Clink Street and Bank End behind Borough Market.
Borough Yards' Amorino storefront
By mirroring the materiality of surrounding brickwork yet playing with the bricks' order, pattern and finishes, SPPARC's attention to detail leaves little room to doubt Borough Yards is entirely at home in its context. Intentionally focussed more on retail and entertainment, and carving their own niche in the area, these new pathways and their arches do not seek to create competition with Borough Market, but rather add more avenues to traverse between, through and beyond both spaces.
Borough Yards Everyman Cinema and TOG working spaces
Maps that signal location are hand-pasted to walls in a neighbourhood-like, playful way, purposefully eschewing more formal ways of signposting in retail spaces. Arch motifs throughout the space nod to the architecture, while a light installation across the opening façade plays with words historically associated with the area, all part of a series of informed design choices that gesture to the rich heritage of Borough that SPPARC architects have unearthed, reinstated and reimagined.
Borough Yards open area
The porous central area that acts a focal point in Borough Yards is reminiscent of a Mediterranean piazza, a rare instance for urban dwellers to congregate in an otherwise densely built area such as Borough. Now, with Wimbledon screens erected as well as plans for future seasonal markets, Borough Yards is fast-evolving into its intended purpose as a new cultural and retail hotspot for London.
Borough Yards' viaduct archway reimagined into a Vinoteca
boroughyards.com
spparcstudio.com
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Nana Ama Owusu-Ansah is a writer and photographer from London. She first wrote for Wallpaper* in 2021, in a series on the new vanguard of African designers practising in Africa and its diaspora. She is drawn to projects centring on decolonial approaches to art, architecture, as well as community and sustainability. Nana Ama read Economics and Spanish at University of St Andrews, and, as an avid linguist, is passionate about using accessible language to invite new audiences to engage in design discourse.
-
A local’s guide to Atlanta
Drawn by the city’s diversity and queer community, life coach and writer Cator Sparks returned to Atlanta after 25 years away. He shares his favourite haunts
-
Wael Shawky explores a theatrical moment in history in Edinburgh
Pull strings to get there if you can, as the Egyptian artist presents the third film in his ‘The Crusades Cabaret’ trilogy, at Talbot Rice Gallery
-
We bring you all the best bits from this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed
As car makers switch their allegiance to the sunny West Sussex countryside as a place to showcase their wares, a new generation of sports cars were sent running up that famous hill
-
The inimitable Norman Foster: our guide to the visionary architect, shaping the future
Norman Foster has shaped today's London and global architecture like no other in his field; explore his work through our ultimate guide to this most impactful contemporary architect
-
Shard Place offers residents the chance to live in the shadow of London’s tallest building
The 27-storey tower from Renzo Piano Building Workshop joins The Shard and The News Building to complete Shard Quarter, providing a sophisticated setting for renters
-
Kengo Kuma’s ‘Paper Clouds’ in London is a ‘poem’ celebrating washi paper in construction
‘Paper Clouds’, an installation by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, is a poetic design that furthers research into the use of washi paper in construction
-
Foster + Partners to design the national memorial to Queen Elizabeth II
For the Queen Elizabeth II memorial, Foster + Partners designs proposal includes a new bridge, gates, gardens and figurative sculptures in St James’ Park
-
Wolves Lane Centre brings greenery, growing and grass roots together
Wolves Lane Centre, a new, green community hub in north London by Material Cultures and Studio Gil, brings to the fore natural materials and a spirit of togetherness
-
A new London exhibition explores the legacy of Centre Pompidou architect Richard Rogers
‘Richard Rogers: Talking Buildings’ – opening tomorrow at Sir John Soane’s Museum – examines Rogers’ high-tech icons, which proposed a democratic future for architecture
-
At the Royal Academy summer show, architecture and art combine as never before
The Royal Academy summer show is about to open in London; we toured the iconic annual exhibition and spoke to its curator for architecture, Farshid Moussavi
-
This ingenious London office expansion was built in an on-site workshop
New Wave London and Thomas-McBrien Architects make a splash with this glulam extension built in the very studio it sought to transform. Here's how they did it