Chestnuts Park

• Modernising a Victorian park in Tottenham.
• Extensive programme of consultation.
• A large zoned playground to cope with heavy use.
• Green Flag award achieved.

As landscape architects on Haringey Council’s framework of selected consultants we were commissioned to renovate this Victorian park in Tottenham.Our brief was to work with local residents,the Friends of Chestnuts Park and other stakeholders to redesign the park to modern standards and for modern use.

We ran an extensive programme of consultation to ensure the new park would meet the needs of all its users. The park was heavily used and needed to cope with large numbers, especially during school holidays.There was also a need to be able to accommodate festival events in the park.

The focus of our landscape design was a new large playground which used accessible equipment and met the latest safety standards.The playground was also zoned to provide dedicated areas for different age groups. New sports facilities were created along with a terrace for the café and improved infrastructure around the park including paths, signage and street furniture.We ran a cycle route through the park as part of a wider scheme to encourage cycling and connect different parts of the Borough through its open spaces.A second phase of work featured a new sensory play area.

As we were replacing the old playground we wanted to get the new playground installed as quickly as possible to ensure the children still had somewhere to play.The main refurbishment took place in winter when the park was quieter, but this presented problems with wet ground, requiring continual liaison with the contractor and the Council to take a flexible approach to keep the project on target.

The new park has been a big success. Usage has increased significantly and the park has been given the Green Flag award which recognised excellence in environmental park design.