Hyde Park is one of London’s major tourist destinations and an historic site for events and displays of national importance. The Parade Ground project forms part of LUC’s ongoing management strategy for The Royal Parks to implement a series of landscape enhancements in this historically sensitive site. It not only aims to enhance the daily visitor experience but also to help the Parade Ground restoration programme undertaken annually in response to extensive and growing public use of this very popular site. The work will also help the site’s recovery from the impact of extreme weather, in particular drought.
Phase 1 of the project focussed on infrastructure and included improvements to the existing footpath network and related site drainage and an upgrade of underground services. This stage was completed in summer 2009.
Phase 2 was successfully completed May 2010 and aims to improve the soil structure and resilience of the turf in the southern park of the Parade Ground to perform throughout the year. This phase involved detailed site analysis and a range of soil treatments, variably applied, including subsoil decompaction, deep soil aeration, topographic crowning, vertidrain surface aeration, rootzone importation and fibre reinforced turfing.
