“Green vision” for London: new homes among parks and gardens
* “Green infrastructure” will unlock inaccessible transport corridors and create linear parks and platforms for pedestrians and cyclists
* New watery spaces proposed are floating gardens on the Thames, a linear lido along Regent’s Canal between Little Venice and Limehouse, and a vineyard spanning the river between London Bridge and Monument
* A new linear park at Nine Elms, where 16,000 homes are planned at Embassy Gardens
* A five-acre “lost river park” is being re-established at redeveloped Earls Court exhibition centre, creating 7,500 homes in four new villages
A new “green vision” for London has been launched by some of the capital’s brightest and best designers, architects and eco-campaigners. The New London Landscape is a powerful initiative to put creative landscaping and nature at the heart of residential communities.
Buyers want green space on their doorstep. With its Royal Parks, garden squares and myriad open spaces, London is already one of the greenest cities in the world. Now developers are being encouraged to weave green space into the fabric of the city — “so Londoners do not have to go in search of it”.
This includes “green infrastructure” unlocking inaccessible transport corridors and creating linear parks and platforms for pedestrians and cyclists above and alongside railway tracks and sidings.
Among the exciting range of new watery spaces proposed are floating gardens on the Thames, a linear lido along Regent’s Canal between Little Venice and Limehouse, and Grape London, a vineyard spanning the river between London Bridge and Monument.
Olympic woods and wildlife meadows: East Village
The Olympic Park, the largest urban park in Britain for a century, has shown what is possible. Five new neighbourhoods with 8,000 homes are being created. East Village has been unveiled as the capital’s “newest neighbourhood”, with 2,818 homes and its own postcode, E20. Homes will be released for sale later this year.
The wonderful wildflower meadows, one of the highlights of the Games, are just the beginning, according to Phil Askew, project director for landscape and public realm, who says: “We want to create a 21st-century pleasure garden, open 24 hours a day.”
“When complete there will be 100 hectares of green space, with more than 4,000 trees, 127,000 shrubs and a million herbaceous plants. Part of the legacy is making the space feel accessible. We hope it will inspire people. We are taking the best bits of London parks and bringing in new ideas about meadows and biodiversity.”
From £349,000: the vertical homes in Embassy Gardens, Battersea, will have space for balcony gardens
New York’s much-praised High Line project, a mile-long aerial greenway on an elevated section of disused railway, is the inspiration for a linear park at Nine Elms, London’s biggest regeneration zone, where 16,000 homes are planned. Five major projects are under construction.
The park will be the pedestrian spine of this district between Vauxhall Bridge and Battersea Power Station, passing through Embassy Gardens, a complex of 1,982 homes that will form a horseshoe around the new US Embassy.
Buildings of varying height and character are influenced by the architecture of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District and London’s Edwardian mansion blocks — constructed of brick rather than glass and steel to suggest permanence and solidity, with communal courtyards and planted roofs. It will have a resort-style spa, a private club and business centre plus bars and a restaurant. Prices from £349,000.
“We want to start a conversation about London, to change the way that Londoners think about their city,” says Sue Illman, president of the Landscape Institute, which is promoting a design competition and also encouraging public feedback through its new londonlandscape.org website. “All kinds of amazing ideas are possible. We need city-wide strategies. A dynamic and integrated approach to our limited land resource is crucial because of global warming and population growth.”
Earls Court redevelopment: 7,500 homes and four new villages
A five-acre “lost river park” is being re-established at redeveloped Earls Court exhibition centre. This project aims to bring, 7,500 homes, two million sq ft of commercial and retail space and add 23 acres to the public realm by reclaiming under-utilised land at the complex. The masterplan by architect Farrell & Partners envisages four new villages and a new high street.
The four areas comprise the upmarket Earls Court Village (“smart, elegant and genteel”), the family-focused West Brompton Village (“leafy and tranquil”), the more urban North End Village (“vibrant and multicultural”) and West Kensington Village (“a dynamic commercial hub”).
The first phase backs on to the Brompton Cemetery and Eardley Crescent conservation areas and comprises eight modern mansion blocks and terraces of townhouses linked by new streets and garden squares.
Apartments will be bigger than average, complying with the Mayor’s new space standards. Typical two-bedroom flats will be 900 sq ft while townhouses will range up to 2,750sq ft. There are 14 different “house types” and only a small proportion of homes will be studios (of which the Earls Court area has many).
Goodman’s Fields in Aldgate: a green urban retreat
Goodman’s Fields, by Aldgate, is a 10-minute walk from the Bank of England and even closer to Tower of London. In the Middle Ages, the land was a farm, supplying the area’s food needs. Before the banking collapse in 2008, it was a gated business estate occupied by Royal Bank of Scotland.
Berkeley, the new owner, is opening up the seven-acre site and building 920 homes plus a hotel, boutique shops and eateries. Within the estate, landscape architects Murdoch Wickham are creating an “urban retreat”, with public park, squares and lusciously landscaped courtyards.
The scheme brings a fresh dimension and scale to City-fringe living, where most residential developments are squeezed on to smaller plots. Apartments have projecting glass-walled winter gardens. Interiors by Johnson Naylor are characteristically swish and tasteful, space-efficient, with concealed storage. Silk House, the first phase, is due for completion in September 2015. Prices start at £490,000.
Take a barge walk in Docklands
Well-received ideas include a barge walk in Docklands, a park alongside the New River running between Alexandra Palace and Sadler’s Wells, and a reinstated Fleet River channel as a new low-line park. The subterranean river, below Fleet Street in the City, has been covered since 1769. It would be opened up below street level, with pedestrian footpaths either side.
Another proposal is Suburban Kiss, which involves landscaping a section of the A20 arterial road through Greenwich and Bexley to provide a “green ribbon” between the city and the Green Belt.
Subterranean waterways: One Tower Bridge
One Tower Bridge, a 353-home development alongside City Hall, will have three green zones, a mix of hard and soft landscaping, each with a showpiece water feature, one of which will be a spectacular “water clock” with vertical jets which visitors will be able to control by interactive floor pads.
The cluster of eight buildings includes a 20-storey tower with just one apartment on each floor. Prices start at £850,000
At Chelsea Creek, part of the giant Imperial Wharf development in south-west London, new parkland plus navigable canals with moorings are being created. The creek is for the most part a subterranean stream that flows in from the Thames.
The new canals and dock will be linked to the tidal Thames via rebuilt locks and a tunnel. Homes are being built alongside the waterways and tree-lined avenues. Prices start at £2,274,950, with cheaper homes coming soon.