Projects 4:
Climate Change, Sustainable Communities, Housing, Tackling Hunger, Transportation, Gardens & Parks

Gold Route, Sheffield

The Gold Route is a series of linked public spaces from Sheffield railway station to the centre of the city.

The landscape architects at Sheffield City Council were responsible for the development of the concept and masterplan, and led the detailed design of the Peace Gardens, Barkers Pool and Howard Street, which make up the route.

The city centre is now booming and the reputation of Sheffield as a forward-looking European city with a strong belief in contemporary design and craftsmanship has been enhanced.

Boscastle

The work done by Nicholas Pearson Associates in Boscastle, Cornwall, was part of a £4.5m flood defence project, aimed at developing a strategy to deliver flood alleviation in a way that was responsive to the heavily protected landscape setting.

The project was delivered after the village was destroyed by flooding in 2004 and prevented a repeat in the summer of 2007.

Key factors in achieving flood alleviation was working with natural river processes, including known deposition and erosion patterns. A new bridge will also be constructed to reduce the potential for flood flows to back up into the village.

New Islington

New Islington is a major regeneration initiative in the suburbs of Manchester. It will transform a formerly neglected neighbourhood with hundreds of new homes as part of a mixed-use scheme providing shops, leisure, offices, schools and a health clinic.

The regeneration will also provide new pedestrian and cycle links along the Ashton and Rochdale canals, which will also be developed as a valuable wildlife corridor. It also includes the first new park to be built in Manchester since the 19th Century.

Greenwich Millennium Village

The Greenwich Millennium Village is a housing estate on the Greenwich Peninsula near the former Millennium Dome.  Its masterplan was designed by Ralph Erskine, an architect who believes strongly in ensuring that buildings are placed carefully into a landscape context.

The design for Greenwich Millennium Village takes sustainability seriously and holistically, aiming to provide for the social and cultural needs of the people living there and ensuring that the development steps lightly upon the planet. 

Landscape architects are frequently masterplanners for similar developments, and fruitful collaboration with architects and planners is crucial to achieving the best results.

Peabody Trust, Nile Street, London

This housing scheme provides a showcase for social housing in inner-city London, providing 175 homes for rent and sale.

The landscape architect aspect was carried out by Muckenbeck and Marshall Architects in liaison with Peabody Trust’s landscape regeneration manager and reflects the belief that a social housing development needs the very highest quality of design to be a success.

The development is centred on a courtyard with silver birch trees and a water feature that is illuminated at night.

Design of the Times, Middlesborough

Food security is an issue of increasing importance, and planning how we use land is a crucial part of this. We need to grow more food in the UK including in our towns and cities.  In the Summer and Autumn 2007, thousands of people living and working in the town of Middlesbrough, Tees Valley participated in a project to increase local food production and reduce food miles.

The project which was called Dott 07 encouraged people to work together, growing food and realising new relationships with local food producers and existing growers in the town and its surrounding area. Their goal has been to pioneer a new sustainable future - not just for Middlesbrough but also other post-industrial communities across the U.K.

King's Cross, Central

The King's Cross Central is one of the largest and most complex urban regeneration projects in Europe. The project has gained much of its stimulus from the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link.

A massive site north of King's Cross and St Pancras stations is being developed with a network of new neighbourhoods, new streets and squares, offices, shops and restaurants. There are a number of historic buildings that will be retained as part of the scheme, including three ornate cast iron gasholders. It will make a decisive change to the landscape at King's Cross.

Peace Gardens, Sheffield

The Peace Gardens form part of Sheffield’s award-winning Gold Route and is at the heart of the city’s developments.

Set against the backdrop of the Victorian Town Hall, it includes fountains, water features and lawns and is surrounded by café bars.

The gardens were initially laid out in 1938 and rebuilt and rededicated in the name of peace in December 1998.

Olympic Park

The London 2012 Olympic Park aims to become a new kind of park promoting sustainable and active living.

The park, which is being designed by LDA Design-Hargreaves Associates will play a crucial role in the regeneration of east London, acting as a catalyst for lasting social and economic change.

The primary feature of the park will be the restored and reconfigured waterways and associated wetlands. It will also include allotments and other food growing areas, meadows, wooded valleys and orchards, facilities for sports including canoeing, mountain biking and cricket and new cycle and footpaths.