One Thames City
-
R&F Group
-
Design; Gillespies, Execution; Camlins
-
£5.4m
-
December 2022 - May 2023
One Thames City sits in a prominent area of the Linear Park and holds one of the biggest areas of open space created in Nine Elms.
Awards & Recognitions
British Association of Landscape Industries National Landscape Award within the ‘Soft Landscaping Construction (non-domestic) - Over £500K’ category
Building Thames City
Meeting Expectations
While there were complexities in the technical part of the build, there were also challenges with the soft landscaping. The procurement with the trees was on tight deadlines with the Chinese New Year being a key date for areas to be planted and turfed. The size and scale of the trees, of which the larger trees weighted around 15 tons, meant that we had to have deliveries into London at key times due to the extra long vehicle requirements in London – we believe these are some of the largest trees to be delivered into London in recent years. This involved co-ordinating cranes that had capacity to lift and locate such large specimens. All this done with a project starting in the depths of December.
To compliment the soft landscaping and extensive tree planting is paving which splits up the Linear Park and allowing access from one side to another. The paving is a mix of sandstone and granite designed to take the weight and size of a fire engine.
Check out the build process…
Elite Landscapes were engaged to build the Park within a 6 month programme working closely with the landscape architects Gillespies on design and the executive team Camlins, to ensure the scheme was delivered to the highest execution. A build of this size would have normally taken significantly longer to complete than the time frame, which meant planning and delivery throughout the scheme was essential to get right and avoid substantial delay penalties. The scale of this build involved up to 60 people on site at any one time working from the centre of the site outwards.
Unusual Features
The project itself is a mix of hard and soft landscaping, with the key features being the specimen trees and water feature that cuts the length of site consisting of aquatic planting, to help encourage biodiversity amongst the urbanisation. The water feature has 2 bridges that allow access into the tree lines and planted areas, and large cropped granite copings to the south. The central feature is a large turf lawn with amphitheatre seating to one side.
