The Brief

Elite Landscapes delivered extensive landscaping to this high quality development, located next to Westfield’s flagship shopping centre. Our brief from St James was to construct all the external landscaping in and around the Phase One buildings. This included five separate landscaped areas that were released back to the client and opened to the public in sections. Excluding the metal works, all the external elements were included in the scope, such as several large water features and a rich variety of green spaces.

Elite Landscapes are extremely proud to be a part of the construction of White City Living. The team has now been present on the site for over 6 years, starting when the job was just dirt and rubble to landscape the marketing suite. Since then, we have been awarded several smaller packages that extended the landscaping, which ultimately lead to securing Phase One.

Several areas required us to accelerate our works, resulting in the guys on site having to work weekends and nights on rotation. Due to their hard work, Elite achieved all the required programme dates for handover from the client with minimal snags. To achieve this Elite had a workforce of up to 40 men, working in various sections. The client commended us for our efforts to achieve these milestones and to be able to do so safely throughout the COVID pandemic, by implementing revised Health and Safety measures to keep our men and other traders on site safe. The quality of detail and workmanship is visible throughout the scheme and the upkeep of this is looked after by Elite’s maintenance division, who now look after the planting throughout the estate.

The design of White City was split into 5 distinct areas; Exhibition Park, The Water Park, The Spring Garden, The Autumn Garden and The Magnolia Garden. While each area has its own unique characteristic, all interconnect through shared pedestrian surfaces which additionally connect to the adjacent Westfield shopping centre and Imperial College. Murdoch Wickham’s inspiration behind the design was the Japan-British Exhibition of 1910 which can be seen in the oriental styled gardens. Additionally the Victorian plant hunters inspired exotic and botanic planting, and an emphasis on water throughout the landscape.

Such water features also add to the fluidity of the site as many interconnect between the areas, running next to pedestrian pathways. There are also various areas throughout the site to promote community activities, such as the amphitheatre and space for markets and exhibitions. Elite Landscapes are confident we have captured Murdoch Wickham’s vision at design stage, to bring this impressive design to life.

One of the most unusual aspects about White City was the number of water features throughout the site, with each of them having their own individual design and several connecting to one another. The most unusual water feature can be located in Centre Stage, where there are 5 large totems with metal spouts set at different levels. These spouts and associated pipework needed to be lifted and held in position whilst we formed our blockwork and concrete around them. These were then clad in tier cladding and water falls into a pool below. It was a complex procedure, but the finish is well worth it.

Materials were sourced for the job by working closely with a good supply chain. All the hard finishes went through an approval process, with Elite offering samples to St James for confirmation. This enabled us to secure our material pallet that we would use throughout the scheme and gave us the opportunity at an early stage to ensure we were only using the highest quality materials.

Elite placed bulk orders with our soil and hard aggregate suppliers to ensure we had continuity in our supply chain and were never short of required materials to finish. We went through a rigorous process of blending soils, so it perfectly matched the specification, to give the soft landscaping the best start possible. St James were extremely accommodating and encouraged us to procure items early to ensure there was no supply issues further down the line. They would then store this, so it was ready for use when required.

As with any site, unexpected issues are inevitable. Thanks to the quick thinking and expertise of our hard working team, such problems are quickly overcome and solved.

A lot of the trees that Elite installed were in close proximity to the railway line, both overground and underground. Due to this, we had to meticulously plan our lift and work with both the client, crane company, tree supplier and TFL to ensure everything ran smoothly. Another area that provided problems for planting was Magnolia Gardens. This section was completely cut off from access by a building elevation on three sides. We had access to plant for a while, but as the project progressed this was finally closed. To install the trees, we had to locate a crane in an adjacent car park that belonged to Imperial College. They kindly agreed to give us access and we installed the trees in a well-planned procedure over two days. Additionally, whilst carrying out excavation works for reduce digging and capillary layer to be installed, we came across two unexpected issues. The first issue we found was asbestos in the ground while we were excavating an area near the railway line. After inspection with St James, we carried out a controlled removal from the site. Our muck away contractor, Sivyer, removed the material safely and sent it for disposal at a specialist disposal location in Birmingham.

The second issue we were faced with was the possibility of unearthing WWII bombs. Whilst digging, the site team found a suspicious unknown item within our digging zone. After creating an exclusion zone around the area, we alerted St James who came to investigate. A larger exclusion was set up and work was stood down whilst bomb disposal teams came to site to investigate. They removed the item from site and work could proceed. No sooner than we had found one than another was unearthed only a few metres away. The disposal team returned to site and removed the second unknown ordnance. St James implemented a watch team for two weeks whilst we excavated. Our site team were commended for their actions and how safely and professionally they dealt with the situation.