Hatch End Riverside Park

Starting with a brief for an accessible path, collaborative work with community groups expanded the ambition of the project to deliver a new park that enhances ecology and engages visitors through playful interventions and performance. Community input played a central role in shaping the brief with fundamental questions posed in: "What makes a park?" and "What makes our park?" Choosing a name, creating a path and introducing seating were defined as what makes a park; while a connection to the performing arts, and nature make ‘our park’. The park’s design is centred on enhanced ecologies, including new parkland trees, wildflower meadows, and rotational coppice to improve light along the Pinn. A series of objects - including, in Phase 1, the Stage - serve as focal points within these ecologies. Together, they create a journey that draws visitors through the site, encouraging play and performance while engaging with the enriched landscapes and the health and wellbeing benefits they bring. Waste stone and brick found onsite were used in the fabrication of tiles for the stage. These being the same materials of the arts centre bring a material connection to the arts into the park. This process was intrinsically tied to the work with the arts centre and their work with the performing arts to benefit young people’s mental health. The project’s first phase introduced a new path, seating, and The Stage, designed for formal and informal performances. The opening of the park saw a performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream’ with children taking to the stage later in the day to perform cartwheels and football skills.