Alexandra Road Park was designed and built in the late 1970’s and is at the heart of the large Grade II* listed Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate. It has recently been completely restored thanks to a grant from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund. It reopened in July 2015.
The restoration of Alexandra Road Park was fascinating from the outset, involving the restoration of one of the most modern heritage assets that Heritage Lottery Fund have funded and cited as “the most significant landscape of its type in the UK” . Many will be familiar with the iconic architecture of the estate designed by Neave Brown, but may not even know of the park designed by Janet Jack in 1979 which lies at the centre of the estate.
During the project the design team met with Janet Jack several times to enable a full appreciation of the original design intent, reflected in the Conservation Management Plan researched expertly by Sarah Couch which formed the fundamental basis of the approach to untangling the wildness, opening views, restoring and revealing the engineered topography and structure of the park defined by distinctive geometry of the walls and level changes, and enhancing the rich spatial pattern. This enabled a review of design proposals thematically with Janet around planting, biodiversity and play. These stimulating sessions considered the management of the existing resource to preserve the sense of ‘wildness’ while opening views and developing the understory; grafting of new elements including play features designed by Erect Architecture; evolving a long-term vision based on sound horticultural and conservation practice, to ensure that through design the park management is much more than operational, rather it is a creative process of securing the park’s character and qualities for future generations.