Thames Barrier Park (Design)

Space Type
An Urban Park
Location
North Bank of The Thames,
North Woolwich Road, Silverton.
London Docklands

Award
Civic Trust 2002
Designers 
Groupes Signes, Patel Taylor, Arup



A former industrial site lying north of the Thames Flood Barrier. This nine hectare park, developed following an international design competition, is both urban and contemporary with references to the past history of the site.
 The Sunken Green Dock (reference to the former Prince Regent Dock) is a remarkably designed long and narrow channel cutting through the park at an angle, containing a rippling wave of yew, and lines of herbaceous and shrub planting follow the line of the cut.
At the river side there is a vast timber deck with waveshaped seating and a pergola dedicated to those killed in the two world wars.
To the north of the sunken gardens is an area surrounded by huge concrete walls banded with black slate and filled with a geometric pattern of 36 water jets.
Bridges of steel tubing and graphite iron railings cross the cut. Elsewhere the park offers contrasting uses with a large lawn, a wildflower meadow, a riverside walk and a traditional playground.

Judges’ views

“Already this new park seems to be having a very positive impact on the surrounding area, which is rapidly being developed into housing. During the last half-century the value of green space – both social and commercial – has been forgotten and few new parks have been created. It is hoped that this innovative and beautifully designed park will act as an exemplar and that in future the creation of public parks will be included in regeneration strategies as a matter of course”.