Inspiration in a damp climate

Sometimes the best way to talk about landscape is to pass through it. And so, on a rainy November morning earlier this week, we embarked upon a walking case study tour to discuss the Urban Greening Factor, biodiversity net gain and the use of landscape as a means of bringing distinctiveness and value to developments, alongside our client Wates.

Our route passed through a part of London that is endowed with well-conceived schemes at a variety of scales.  Starting at Pollard Thomas Edwards’ New Garden Quarter in Chobham Farm, we then crossed East Village’s Victory Park. From here we went on to Chobham Manor, which has received a number of awards for its landscape-centred approach. Next stop was the fantastic Tumbling Bay playground, where the deluge forced us into the Pavilion Café.  An impromptu cuppa gave us a moment to reflect on the benefits of play as a destination, a pioneer of placemaking and the backbone of community formation.

We concluded our meandering journey at Turner Works’ Hackney Bridge, via fabrik’s completed East Wick Phase 1.  Hackney Bridge is a temporary workplace, food and beverage and entertainment destination, that will be eventually replaced by Phase 7 of the East Wick Olympic Park legacy development, taken to planning by fabrik in collaboration with Studio Egret West.

We owe a debt of thanks to Kay Stout of Pollard Thomas Edwards, who made time to shows us around their New Garden Quarter scheme, and to Carl Turner of Turner Works, who provided insights into the opportunities meanwhile interventions can offer and the democratic contribution they make to placemaking and empowering small businesses and communities. An interesting discussion ensued about the benefits of transparency and early communication as schemes transition from planning through to delivery.

Throughout the day, connections were made and ideas shared about the intrinsic values of landscape.  The complexity is often not in the big sell of a thematic concept or the intrinsic value of an intense but ephemeral autumnal scene, but in the delivery of that vision, which takes more than drawings and specifications. Thank you to Wates for joining us in a slightly unorthodox endeavour on a very wet day.