New London Architecture has named Gloucester Gate Playground, Regent’s Park as a finalist in the New London Awards’ Placemaking category. LUC worked with Civic Engineers who provided civil and structural engineering for the project, supporting our landscape design scheme.

The Royal Parks appointed LUC to create an exemplar playground to push the boundaries of play opportunities for children of all ages and abilities.

Our design approach points to the existing site setting and its heritage and ecological context. Starting as bomb-damaged rubble, several large mature trees seed and colonise the new artificial mounds, forming a terrain where informal play and ecological habitats thrive. This character threads, weaves and embeds the new play into the landscape using natural materials.

Inclusivity is key to our design, with the main spinal pathway up the mounds a shallow enough gradient to allow wheelchair users to access unassisted. Secondary routes provide more challenging cut-throughs. We selected a range of play equipment that enabled several children, regardless of their ability, to be able to play together.

LUC is passionate about play, and about increasing public access to quality play landscapes. There is now a substantial evidence-base for the positive benefits that access to nature and outdoor exercise has on our health and wellbeing.

We look forward to receiving the winners’ announcements in November.

See the full New London Awards shortlist.

Learn more about Landscape Design at LUC.