News Extra
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – a botanic garden without the entrance fee
Exactly one year after the spectacular Olympic opening ceremony, on 27 of July the fi rst part of the newly named Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park re-opened to the public: the picturesque and green North Park Hub; with remaining areas in the South Park due to open next spring. Rose Hales took a tour of the park with David Lucas from Atkins, Alistair Bayford from The Landscape Group, and Des Smith from Willerby Landscapes. Transforming the park from an
Olympic venue to a useable public green space has been no small feat; although the reopened North Park greatly resembles the similar Games-time space, it has quietly evolved into a sustainable, highly designed natural landscape. More perennials have been added to the famous wildfl ower meadows, which are being allowed to bloom naturally, and will self-seed and re-fl ower with limited maintenance. A key focus has always been sustainability and fl exibility, which
and its future – always asking what each space will be used for. No one is precious about the park, or making claims as to how it should be used. Refreshingly, it is genuinely understood to be a public space, to be used as the public see fi t. It has been designed to be robust, and on-going maintenance will ensure its survival and continual improvement. The park represents true green
infrastructure, not only will the wetland area in the North Park
It has quietly evolved into a sustainable, highly designed natural landscape
has become of paramount importance during the park’s transformation. The challenge has been to let the park alter along with its changing use, while changing as little as
possible. Where the Olympic venue needed to accommodate large numbers of people, the redeveloped parklands will accommodate fewer visitors but
over a much longer time frame, and with a greater sense of freedom within the park. Large access bridges have been replaced by countless smaller ones, providing access from all the adjoining communities. To reduce waste, dismantled decking has been used to make planters. In keeping with sustainability and trying to address the skills gap shortage, the park aims to take on 50 apprentices in the next two years. The landscapers stressed how important fl exibility is to the park
protect thousands of homes from fl ood damage, but wildlife and birdlife are a strong indicator of the success of the wetland area as a functioning ecosystem in which the park can grow and develop. Much of the planting is recovering impressively, although the park will only really reach its full potential in a few years’ time, when it has been allowed to mature adequately.
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