Burgess Park
13/11/2009
WINNER OF DESIGN CONTEST TO REVITALISE LONDON'S ‘PREMIER PARK' ANNOUNCED
LDA Design has been awarded the contract to carry out the design behind a major £6m revamp of Burgess Park in Southwark, the winner of the Mayor of London's ‘Premier Park' competition.
In March of this year it was announced that Burgess Park had won £2 million from Boris Johnson under his ‘Premier Park' programme, to protect and enhance the capital's green spaces. The park also received match funding of a further £4 million from the Aylesbury New Deal for Communities.
Today, winning design plans have been unveiled which will provide a major transformation across the park, giving it a far stronger landscape design and a clear identity. This includes better access to nature by creating a variety of different habitats; attractive horticultural planting; improvements to the lake; removing redundant roads and pathways and making those that remain more user friendly; creating improved entrances and better defined boundaries.
Andrew Harland from winning company LDA Design said they were "delighted" with the decision.
In total 25 firms submitted a formal expression of interest in the project.
Earlier this summer the Burgess Park Project Board shortlisted five of these firms to be invited to tender. Following evaluation of those tenders, and presentations to key stakeholders, the project board selected two designs to go out to public consultation.
Upon completion of the consultation process, the project board met on 28 October and recommended that LDA Design be awarded the contract.
The project board chose the LDA Design proposal because it appeared to really address the needs of local people and aimed to enhance and improve ecology and biodiversity throughout the park. Local people seem to agree - this phase of consultation showed that local people favoured the LDA Design.
"We are delighted to have been chosen to deliver this exciting project," said Andrew Harland, partner at LDA Design. "The positive response from the many people who took part in the exhaustive and demanding assessment makes winning particularly rewarding. We are very much looking forward to starting work with Southwark Council, the many interest groups and the local community to make Burgess Park the very special place that Southwark and London deserves."
Cllr Paul Kyriacou, executive member for environment and transport at Southwark Council, said: "Choosing the winning design means we can now get on with the serious matter of starting our transformation of Burgess Park. I think the project board have done a great job in this selection process, and LDA Design's vision for the park is one that will really make a difference. Burgess Park has long promised to be one of London's best parks, but sadly has never lived up to its potential. Now with this design, that is ambitious and at the same time achievable, we can take the first step towards a superb new look Burgess Park."
Richard McDermott, director of Aylesbury NDC said: "This is excellent news for residents of the Aylesbury Estate and others who use Burgess Park. The park is a really fine resource in a key location and we look forward to seeing our funds used by LDA Design to develop the park into a more attractive area that will benefit the whole community."
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: "This is an exciting milestone in the long awaited revamp of Burgess Park. The selection of this winning design means we can now get cracking on improving this park so that local people will have a fantastic new green space to enjoy. I want to improve Londoners' quality of life to create a far more pleasant city dotted with attractive, tranquil spaces for people to have fun and relax in."
For more details on the winning design, please visit the Burgess Park page at Southwark Council's site.
Media Contacts for LDA Design:
Dawn Barnes T: 07956 137 277
Carol Walsh T: 01865 887 050
For more information on the park, please contact Darell Carey in the Southwark Council press office 020 7525 7307.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The decision to award the contract to LDA Design was made by the Burgess Park project board on Wednesday October 28th. In order to comply with European and domestic law, the implementation of that decision is subject to a ‘waiting' period within which the unsuccessful companies and third parties are entitled to appeal. This period ends/will end on November 15th.
Project History
The £2m was a grant awarded to Burgess Park by the Mayor of London earlier this year. Burgess Park was selected by the Mayor to receive the largest grant under his ‘Help a London Park' programme. The programme also awarded grants of £400,000 each to ten other parks and green space across the capital. The money came from efficiency savings made at City Hall and also involved £4m to makeover at additional ten smaller parks across the capital. The Mayor's grant was matched with a further £4 million of funding which was secured through an enhanced partnership between the council and the Aylesbury New Deal for Communities. The £6m project is in addition to over £1.2m currently being invested in the Chumleigh Gardens open space, play area and cafe in the heart of the park that is due to open in early 2010.
The total £6m will be spent on giving visitors to the park a far more enjoyable experience, with better access to nature by creating a variety of different habitats; attractive horticultural planting; improvements to the lake; removing redundant roads and pathways and making those that remain more user friendly; creating improved entrances and better defined boundaries and above all giving the park a new striking identity.
For more information on the park, please contact Darell Carey in the Southwark Council press office 020 7525 7307.
