Open House Festival 2026 at Bankside Yards

For more than 150 years, the railway arches around Bankside Yards remained closed to the public. Set within Arch 10, the talk brought together a trio of expert speakers who explored the relationship between heritage, regeneration and placemaking, looking at how a long-concealed piece of Victorian infrastructure has been reopened and reinterpreted as part of Native Land’s 5.5 acre transformation of Bankside Yards. The conversation also considered what the project could mean for the future of the wider Bankside area: a place where culture, work, homes and everyday public life come together.

The evening was part of the wider Open House Festival programme, which each year opens buildings and sites not usually accessible to the public. Bankside Yards’ inclusion highlights its growing importance and the role it has to play in shaping the future of London, transforming a lost city intersection on the South Bank of the Thames, bringing forward eight buildings and reconnecting the cultural walkway between Royal Festival Hall and the Tate Modern.

Chaired by Leanne Tritton, Hon FRIBA, Chair of The London Society, the discussion brought together Nicholas Gray, Executive Director at Native Land; Lee Polisano, Founding Partner of PLP Architecture; and architectural historian Lucy Denton, each offering a distinct vantage point on the site’s past, present and future,  from the realities of restoring a Victorian structure to the design thinking shaping what comes next.

Thank you to our speakers and to everyone who joined us for an evening of thoughtful conversation, insight and reflection.