Heritage London & South East

Bishops Park is set to blossom

Bishops Park

Bishops Park was officially opened by Sir John Hutton, chairman of the London County Council (LCC), in 1893. In October 2011, the implementation phase of an exciting project to restore the park and the grounds of the adjacent Fulham Palace commenced. This followed a successful application by Hammersmith and Fulham Council to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) as part of the ‘Parks for People’ initiative.

Main contractor Vinci Construction has overseen the successful restoration of both Bishops Park and Fulham Palace Grounds. The Park restoration includes improvements to what is known as the central core and new children’s playgrounds, which have now reopened to the public. An interactive waterplay feature, beach and restored lake and bridge will be reopened in early May 2012. The restored cafe and new community buildings are scheduled to open within a similar timescale.

Drew Bennellick, Head of Landscape & Natural Heritage for HLF, said:

“The Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund have invested over £600 million in public parks since 1994. Over the next three years, we will invest another £30 million each year in around twenty park projects across the UK.

“Britain is unique in having an amazing legacy of public parks and we are keen to protect this legacy. Many of the parks are Victorian and as a result of the competitive tendering and best value initiatives of the 1970s and 1980s have been left in appalling condition. Luckily in the late 1980s there was a realisation that parks are important for the community and quality of life, and this is a message that we are keen to promote.”

The multi-million pound project has been funded by a joint investment between HLF and BLF, along with funding from Hammersmith & Fulham Council. An important aspect of the project was community involvement, as lead landscape architect Mark Holland from Chris Blandford Associates explained:

“Public consultation has been central to every stage of the project. To date this has included events at the park along with regular meetings, newsletters, questionnaires and surveys. During the scheme’s implementation, neighbouring residents have been informed of the works taking place at each stage and have therefore been kept in the loop throughout the project.

Bishops Park

“We also maintained a good relationship with the conservation officer and with English Heritage in order to insure that we maintained their confidence in the work as it progressed.

“Given the sensitivity of the sites and in particular the listed status of the buildings and Scheduled Monument status of the Palace, the client, contractor and design team has sought to establish a good working relationship with the conservation officer and with English Heritage in order to ensure that their confidence was maintained as the work progressed.

“This has been a complex project given the nature of scheme, in which we are dealing with an important historic site. We are also working in a park that is open to the public and have therefore had to manage public access whilst working on a live site.

“As a result, it was essential that the contractor was experienced in this type of work and that he had both safe methods of working and an effective communication strategy in place – and I believe VINCI Construction has managed to rise to this challenge.

“The restoration of Bishops Park and Fulham Palace has been a very rewarding project for us and we hope that everyone will be as delighted as we are with the end result.”

For the project, Ramboll’s archaeological consultants were commissioned to develop the cultural heritage and archaeology elements, including the design and implementation of the archaeological mitigation strategy based on assessment of heritage, constraints, risks and opportunities.

Their role in the project included: preparing archaeological and built heritage appraisals, impact assessments, mitigation strategies and applications for listed building consent applications. During the implementation stage, Rambolls were responsible for overseeing the archaeological fieldwork and ongoing consultation with English Heritage and stakeholders.

Drew Bennellick commented:

“It is important to note that projects such as these represent a considerable investment in the construction industry – particularly the landscape construction industry.

“Investing in parks helps to create jobs, provide new free facilities for people to enjoy and improve people’s quality of life. Most crucially, they help to ensure our parks remain in good heart for future generations to enjoy.”

Leading Lights of London Ltd 

Leading Lights of London Ltd are specialists in the restoration of stained glass and leaded light windows for projects in and around London. The company also provide bespoke designs for many of their clients. Previous restoration projects include St Mary-on-Paddington Green, St John the Baptist Church, N8 and St. Pauls in both Ealing and Furzedown.

On the Bishops Park restoration project, Leading Lights of London Ltd restored and made new box quarry leaded light windows in the Gothic Lodge. The company also supplied and fitted clear restoration glass to the stables along with various specialist glazing works to buildings in the park.

Leading Lights of London Ltd, Director Jonathan Hunt, said:

“At Leading Lights of London Ltd, we aim to source glass to the client’s specifications and we use antique glass wherever possible. As this is not always available we use traditionally made crown glass or restoration glass. All materials are checked and agreed by our clients before starting works.”

SureSet UK Ltd

SureSet UK Ltd supply and install permeable resin bound paving solutions for use in commercial and domestic projects across the UK. The company has a team of approved installers and has been in operation for over 15 years.

On the Bishops Park project, SureSet UK Ltd resurfaced pathways using resin bound natural cast materials.

SureSet UK Ltd Marketing coordinator, Yvonne Philp, said:

“At SureSet UK Ltd we provide our customers with high-quality, environmentally friendly, surfacing.

“Our product has been developed to offer customers a permeable solution to meet their paving requirements and we offer a 15 year guarantee – one of the longest guarantees for this type of product on the market.”

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Roma Publications