8 minute read
Brutalism and biodiversity
Southmere Lake. © Phil Askew, Peabody
Thamesmead is a remarkable town with a fascinating backstory. A draft masterplan approved by the Greater London Council in 1966 envisaged an alternative to London living, defined by brutalist architecture, spacious homes, elevated walkways and considerable open space. Built on former Thames Estuary marshland, the original homes in Thamesmead were designed to be above ground level to reduce the risk of flooding, while a network of picturesque lakes and canals, sitting alongside green corridors, were created to retain and divert surface water. Hailed as the ‘town for the 21st century’, the first residents moved to Thamesmead in 1968 to much excitement.
The regeneration of Thamesmead offers a unique opportunity to restore and revive an important post-war estate through a focus on biodiversity and landscape.
However, the 1966 masterplan was never fully realised due to a range of factors – site constraints, insufficient amenities, inconsistency in governance and wider socioeconomic circumstances. In 2014, Peabody took ownership of two-thirds of the Thamesmead. This meant that for the first time in a generation, much of the town’s housing, community investment activities and land would be managed by a single, well-resourced body. Working with local people and partners, we’re now aiming to improve, grow and look after the town for the long term. With a vision to realise Thamesmead’s full potential, we’re taking a ‘whole place’ approach to the regeneration, investment, and management of the town, which includes managing the town day-to-day, providing better quality homes and amenities, making culture a part of everyday life, supporting communities, and – my area of work – maintaining and enhancing Thamesmead’s extraordinary natural assets. This is set out in detail in our Thamesmead Plan, our core governing document, which is reviewed every five years.
Prioritising the landscape
The landscape of Thamesmead is unlike anywhere else in Greater London. Its sheer extent and variety of green and blue spaces offer us a significant opportunity to bring positive change to local people and the natural environment at scale. To drive this forward over the long term, we’ve put in place a green and blue infrastructure strategy, Living in the Landscape. This strategy sets out our approach to making the most of Thamesmead’s outdoor spaces, with a particular focus on the existing landscape’s potential to reduce health inequalities, mitigate the impacts of climate change and create habitat for a wide range of species. Developed with LDA Design and a consortium of experts in topics such as ecology, planning, economics, and sustainable urban drainage systems, it sets out five key programmes for change:
– The Big Blue – making more of our lakes and canals
– Wilder Thamesmead – enhancing biodiversity through design and a biodiversity action plan
– A Productive Landscape –volunteering, gardening and food growing, landscape activation
– Active Thamesmead – play for all, sport and an active landscape
– Connected Thamesmead – active travel using the landscape as a connecting thread
The strategy is invaluable to us, underpinning every aspect of our work – from informing project briefs to commissioning services, tracking our progress and measuring success.
Peabody owns 65% of the land in Thamesmead – a total area 7km² –and is now steward of:
240ha of green space
5 public parks
5 lakes
7km of canal and waterways
5km of river frontage
53,000 trees
15 community buildings
Day-to-day stewardship
Many of the opportunities identified in Living in the Landscape will be achieved through improved landscape management approaches and working with our Peabody in-house Environmental Services team. In tandem with Living in the Landscape, we’re developing our approach to landscape management through a detailed Estate Management Plan, working with Land Management Services. To this end, we’ve focused on upskilling the team through training with Capel Manor College, a specialist in environmental education. Our aim is to equip them for more nuanced approaches to looking after the land – thinking as horticulturalists rather than simply cutters or mowers.
Recent investment
Over the last five years we’ve focused on developing more detailed approaches to managing the landscape of Thamesmead. In South Thamesmead, where the original brutalist homes sit, we’ve overseen a number of large-scale changes. They include the development of a masterplan by Turkington Martin landscape architects to improve water quality and biodiversity at Southmere Lake, which had previously endured decades of decline. Our investment of £2.5m saw the dredging of 7000m³ of silt to create extensive new reedbeds and floating islands elsewhere in the lake. In doing so, we’ve deepened and therefore cooled the water, lessened anaerobic microbial activity in the bed of the lake, and improved water flow, all of which has improved the water quality and encouraged greater biodiversity. This work, along with better access to the water’s edge, lakeside planting, wooden viewing platforms, a 23m water fountain and a nature trail, has transformed the look and feel of the lake and its immediate surroundings.
With a vision to realise Thamesmead’s full potential, we’re taking a ‘whole place’ approach to the regeneration, investment, and management of the town, which includes managing the town day-today, providing better quality homes and amenities, making culture a part of everyday life, supporting communities.
We’re now working with Thames 21 and the London Wildlife Trust to help improve water quality in Gallions Lake and our extensive canal network.
Within our floating reedbeds we’ll be introducing freshwater mussels, which provide natural filtration. As they retain contaminants, they can potentially help us monitor the health of the water over time.
Greening the grey
We’ve also invested heavily in the spaces directly outside people’s homes in South Thamesmead.
Working with Land Use Consultants (LUC) and Levitt Bernstein Associates (LBA), we’ve transformed around two hectares of public realm in the Parkview and Southmere estates. Here, the designs are sympathetic to the original layout but introduce contemporary elements.
Improvements involved ‘greening’ the grey walkways and enhancing open spaces right outside people’s front doors. Changes included replacing trees that were too big for green courtyards with better-sized, diverse mature trees; installing above-ground planters; planting climbers along parts of the walkways; and introducing beds in the hard and soft landscape. The beds were planted with colourful, textural and biodiverse perennials, including bulbs and herbaceous plants. Some were designed as attractive raingardens, acting as sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS). Other improvements to the estate included new lighting, play and seating areas.
Completed in 2020, this has transformed a large area of the original estate and has been well received by residents. Idverde landscape contractors carried out the works during 2019 and 2020, and went on to win a BALI National Landscape award for their involvement. In 2021 the Southmere estate was commended as a runner-up in the Landscape Institute’s award for horticulture and planting design.
Working with the community
A second phase of this work, known as the South Thamesmead Garden Estate, is now underway. This will see more than three hectares of underused green space, including a green walking route stretching from Lesnes Abbey ruins to Southmere Lake, transform into flourishing parkland and other welcoming spaces.
Crucially, this phase of the programme is being co-produced by a group of local people, known as the Community Design Collective. Recruited, trained and paid a part-time living wage, they’ve invested more than 1,000 hours in design conversations, site visits, and client and contractor meetings since the project began in 2018. Moving towards a more democratic approach to design has been challenging and rewarding in equal measure. It’s an approach that we’re constantly learning from and that we hope to replicate.
Alongside these significant programmes of investment and others elsewhere, we’re providing opportunities for local people to participate in nature-based activities and events across the town. Through our community programme, Making Space for Nature, there’s now a growing movement of local nature lovers getting involved in all kinds of outdoor projects – including habitat creation, woodland coppicing and tree planting across the town. Our work has taught us that that small-scale projects can be as valuable as large-scale changes, so long as what is being delivered responds to the needs of communities and the local environment.
This article provides a snapshot of what we’ve achieved in Thamesmead, thanks to the ongoing support of local people and our partners. But to appreciate the full extent of the changes, Thamesmead is well worth a visit. Seeing is believing. If you’d like to hear more about our work or take a tour of Thamesmead’s neighbourhoods, please go to www.thamesmeadnow.org.uk and get in touch.
Dr Phil Askew is Director of Landscape & Placemaking at Peabody. He is a landscape architect, urban designer and horticulturalist. Prior to his current role he led the design and delivery of the London 2012 Olympic Park at the Olympic Delivery Authority and its transformation into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
