Open House London 2015

When: 19th – 20th September
Where:  Ladywell Fields  - meet Saturday 11.00 at northern entrance of Ladywell Fields, Ladywell Road, SE13 7XB, London
Mountsfield Park - meet Saturday 13.30 at Stainton Road entrance to Mountsfield Park, SE16 1AD, London

Landscape director Mehron Kirk leads walking tours of two of his team’s successful urban regeneration projects in Lewisham for this year’s Open House London weekend.  At 11.00 on Saturday 19th he will discuss the transformation of Ladywell Fields where  a new river channel has been created, meandering through the centre of the open space, providing a focus for the park and drawing people in. Around the new river channel, there are new footbridges, a backwater with viewing platform, an ephemeral pool providing interest near the newly opened cafe, a copse of trees to provide shade and swathes of wildflower meadow providing splashes of colour in this vibrant, natural landscape.  An enhanced footpath network with new lighting, boardwalks and park furniture provides new links to surrounding areas connecting the local community to their parkland.

At 13.30 the same day he will move on to Mountsfield Park Community Gardens where BDP has been working with the Friends of Mountsfield Park and London Borough of  Lewisham to transform a derelict area within an existing park to create an exciting new community garden linked to a renovated playground. Local residents and businesses were invited to help with The Big Dig on Saturday 15 November 2014 when over 150 people joined the BDP team and local councillors to help with the design and planting of the park. The scheme was successfully completed in January 2015 and the landscape team will continue to monitor the scheme post completion.

3 more BDP projects will also be open for Open House London weekend – Hale Village, a high-density major mixed use waterside development, Senate House which has been reconfigured and refurbished in a phased programme of work and the Grade I listed King’s College, London Strand Campus where BDP’s heritage team have been working for several years.

Full details of opening times and venues can be found on the Open House London website using the link below.

Listen to Mehron in conversation with Robert Elms at radio station BBC London 94.9 on Thursday 17th September talking about his projects for Open House and approach to transforming London’s urban spaces.