Southwark Park, Old Nursery Site


KLA have been asked to improve the Old Nursery for public access without compromising the environmental integrity of the site. Our proposal will reintegrate the nursery back into the park whilst maintaining controlled access for such uses as an outdoor learning and a growing facility for local schools and community groups.

In 1870 a nursery was established in the park near Gomm Road to provide plants for Southwark. It operated successfully for over a hundred years. In 1887 approval was given for the addition of a chrysanthemum house, which became a most popular attraction. In its Victorian and Edwardian heyday the annual four-week autumn show had over two-thousand five hundred varieties on display and regularly drew over thirty-thousand visitors. The Old Nursery site was closed by Southwark Council during the 1980’s and the land was licensed for fish farming, but this was discontinued some years ago. Since then the site has been mostly locked up, largely unused and in some disrepair.

Our concept, the hidden garden, will use the existing framework of trees to produce a series of productive and curated plots. A sequence of horizons will guide visitors through the site, where exotic plants will be used to create spectacle and interest. Play will be incorporated with fruit growing to engage younger generations in the sites horticultural past. The walled garden will have a magical and otherworldly feel to it, with views into and through it that delight and entice.

2016–2017
Southwark, London

Client

Southwark Council

Value

£0.7m

Engineer

TALL



Southwark Park, Old Nursery Site

KLA have been asked to improve the Old Nursery for public access without compromising the environmental integrity of the site. Our proposal will reintegrate the nursery back into the park whilst maintaining controlled access for such uses as an outdoor learning and a growing facility for local schools and community groups.

Kinnear Landscape Architects
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