Christchurch Gardens

Westminster City Council commissioned WSP & ReardonSmith Landscape Architects to design proposals for the public realm improvements on Christchurch Gardens in late 2018. Christchurch Gardens is a green space in the heart of Westminster, London, just a two-minute walk from Parliament Square.

The fascinating history of Christchurch Gardens dates back to the 13^th Century. The garden is the site of the former burial ground for St. Margaret Westminster dating from 1625 and Christ Church Westminster, which was destroyed in the Blitz in 1941. This left the site an open space until it was converted into a public garden in 1950. In recent years it became clear that the site’s general condition and layout limited how people could benefit from this important area of green space.

Works on the £3.3 Million scheme commenced in October 2019, with extensive remodelling of the park to provide open and inviting footpaths into the gardens, new lawns, extensive planting and seating. All to offer a flexible open space that reflects the site’s historical background. In the planning was also to encourage biodiversity to the site, with bird and bat boxes, log piles, and an extensive jasmine climber wall.

Working with the main contractor FM Conway, Addagrip approved contractor Street Tree was responsible for sourcing and planting large specimen trees, the provision of 750 tonnes of soil and the installation of 475m of Terrabase Rustic resin bound permeable paving.

Due to the existing location of large London Plane trees along the perimeter of the garden and a desire to avoid compromising these trees, a porous Terrabase Rustic in a 6-10mm Oak blend was installed onto a porous asphalt with a Cellweb base. This enabled site traffic access to these routes throughout the construction phase.