Case Studies
Mile End Park, London
Originally this area consisted of an underused collection of open
spaces, broken up by roads and railways and lacking in facilities - not
even a playground or café. But, in 1995 a partnership of the London
Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London Partnership and the Tower
Hamlets-based Environment Trust came up with the idea of linking the
open spaces with a green bridge to form Mile End Park.
Tower Hamlets Borough Council
drew up the plans (at a cost of £40,000) and the Partnership submitted a bid to the Millennium Commission and was awarded £12.33m. Further finance came from English Partnerships, Charitable Trusts and private investments totalling £25 million. As a result, an entirely new landscape was created which includes earth modelling, extensive planting and water, sport, leisure, art and play facilities and new buildings. The park now also provides safe and attractive pedestrian and cycle routes, significantly contributing to pollution reduction, and insulates the rears of homes at the southern end of the park from sound, aiding regeneration of the area.
Rolls Royce Factory, Chichester
At just under 35,000 square meters the Rolls Royce factory has the largest green roof in the UK. Originally put in as a planning condition for building in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the 80mm of crushed brick substrate was hydro-seeded (ie. the seed, fertiliser, fibre mulch and water are blended together and sprayed onto the roof in one application) then left for succession to take place. As well as mimicking the surrounding area in terms of rainfall attenuation, the roof has also enabled a largely predator-free habitat for ground-nesting birds such as skylarks and ringed plovers, as well as foraging habitats for linnets and song-thrushes (both endangered species).