Shoreditch Park

Client: London Borough of Hackney

Landscape Architect: LUC

Cost: £1.7 million

Duration: 11 months

Completion: March 2023

Location: Hoxton, Hackney

Appointed by the London Borough of Hackney as specialist landscape contractors, Blakedown Landscapes’ remit was to supply and deliver the landscape masterplan at Shoreditch Park.

The client brief was to create a community asset which would foster openness and enclosure, create a heart to the community, stitch together the existing zones, connect the park to the surrounding developments and develop a safe and welcoming space.

Background:

Shoreditch Park is one of the London Borough of Hackney’s largest parks at 7.1 hectares, located at the heart of the community in the south of the borough. It was created in 1973 on a site which was formerly terraced housing damaged during the Blitz, and where prefab housing had been built in the years following the Second World War. In recent years, however, the context and use of the park has been influenced by a growing population and new adjacent developments which have substantially increased school places and residential areas.

The Shoreditch Park Improvement Project, is one of the biggest investments in Hackney for decades and will address the impact of the above changes and secure the future of the park for generations to come.

Project Details:

The Shoreditch Park Team, comprising Hackney Council, LUC and Blakedown, worked collaboratively to ensure the success of this complex project. On a number of occasions eg wildflower meadow, rain gardens, bespoke welfare unit and beach volleyball court, Blakedown built on this team effort by offering best practice, re-design and guidance solutions to ensure that the quality of the finished product and value were maximised.

The scheme is a refurbishment of the existing park with many landscape improvements focusing on ecology, sport and recreation and play. The core components include:

• Refurbishment of the existing sports pitch used for informal football matches and recreation

• A re-design of the children’s playground

• Adjustment to boundary fences to create a perimeter running track

• A new dedicated sports hub with MUGA and outdoor gym equipment, and the relocated beach volleyball court

• Ecological enhancements including rain gardens and swales, wildflower meadows, hedgerows and linear planting, log piles and hibernacula, and bird and bat boxes

• Improvements to Dorothy Thurtle Gardens with new seating, entrances and circulation, planting and an informal play trail

• Improvements to the boundaries, entrances, and pavements

• A new tree plaza

• Installation of new park furniture including benches, bins and signage

• Improved planting –including trees, hedges, shrubs, climbers, perennials and grass

Challenges:

Challenges to the project included:

• Operating in a ‘live’ park environment - to overcome this the works were delivered in four separate phases allowing each work area to be isolated for public safety, whilst maintaining the main pathways for public freedom

• Inclement weather and disability access issues - flexible working and programme rationalisation were key to providing solutions to the unavoidable delays

• A client environmental and cost initiative dictated the reuse of site generated spoil. To maximise on-site spoil used, Blakedown re-designed and re-engineered the mounding within the new playground area. Additionally, gabion benches, which formed insect hotels, made use of recycled bricks and other materials site won.

• Challenging soil conditions caused by large amounts of concrete, which were removed before work could begin.

Hackney Council is working to make Hackney a place for everyone. The Shoreditch Park landscape masterplan has and will make a positive contribution to Hackney’s vision for the future of its borough and to the park and its users, resolving key issues and strengthening the park’s identity and sense of place.

All images: Paul Upward Photography