F E AT U R E
1. Aerial view across the grounds, as spectators watch the big screen at The Championships 2021. © AELTC/Joe Toth
The Pursuit of Landscape Greatness A private golf course built on the site of a Capability Brown Park is being transformed into a public park and home to an extension to the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) Andy Wayro
All England Lawn Tennis Club
Being responsible for delivering “Wimbledon” to the world every year since 1922 (with exceptions for the two World Wars and 2020) is a unique privilege. The Championships – the only Grand Slam on grass in the world – is arguably one of Britain’s most treasured events. Living and breathing this history whilst staying at the forefront of international tennis means we must push boundaries for continuous improvement in order to preserve and honour our traditions. We aim to apply our core values of excellence, heritage, respect and integrity to all aspects of our organisation. Our acquisition in 2018 of the Wimbledon Park Golf Course – comprising 29ha of Grade II* Registered Park & Garden (RPG) currently registered as ‘Heritage at Risk’ – represents a fantastic opportunity to test these values and deliver on our commitment to the UN Sport for Climate Action Framework and to our own AELTC Environment Positive strategy. This encompasses the key pillars of net zero carbon, biodiversity net gain, resource efficiency and inspiring wider action by 2030. We have the opportunity to deliver a truly world class venue for tennis whilst championing a landscape and ecology-lead approach. The site’s history is rich and layered with change. In 1765, Lancelot
‘Capability’ Brown was employed by the great grandson of the Duchess of Marlborough, Earl Spencer, to transform this landscape into an idealised English Parkland Estate. Brown ‘painted’ the landscape with a palette of water, grassland and trees. Wimbledon Park was once regarded as one of Brown’s finest works. Only a fragment of his landscape survives, but with this project we have a unique opportunity to recapture some of his design and vision. Designing 39 lawn tennis courts and associated paths and infrastructure within this landscape was a challenge risen to by our landscape architects at LUC. It meant integrating the lawn tennis courts sensitively amongst the veteran trees on a sloping site, working carefully with the contours to create as natural a result as possible. Proposed paths are sinuous and kept to the minimum to reduce impact. Tree planting echoes Brown’s style of ‘clumps’ and ‘scatters’, and is used to reveal and frame vistas, to disrupt and soften lines and to help reunite the fragmented RPG.
Brown dammed two brooks, creating a lake that remains largely intact. This was pragmatic as well as aesthetic, and has provided enormous benefits to people, animals and birds over the centuries. It is one of the largest freshwater bodies in south London and is a registered reservoir. Over time, the southern end of the lake has disappeared, the brooks that feed the lake have been forced underground and the lake has slowly silted up. We will reverse all these changes and in partnership with the lake owner, LB Merton, we will desilt the lake, increasing water depth and quality. Extensive planting including reedbeds, waterlilies and pockets of wet woodland will create protected areas of rich habitat for flora and fauna, creating a wide and diverse lake ecosystem. Our site-wide hydrology strategy provides a holistic and dynamic response to water across the site (with its heavy clay pan soil profile and perched water table) modelled for 100‑year flood plus climate change. Margin and Bigden brooks will be
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