Community and Schools Development

A scheme built for a school or community area which may contain both hard and/or soft landscape.

ground controL

PRINCIPAL AWard WINNER 2019

THE CHILDREN’S GARDEN, ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW

The Children’s Garden, funded by private donations and corporate sponsors, is the first significant development within the Kew Gardens estate for over a decade. The contractor worked closely with the Kew team to develop the initial design concept and has transformed a formerly under-used area into a unique space for children where they can play and learn how plants grow. The layout of the garden comprises four distinct zones representing air, earth, sun and water, each with its own play theme.

The design and construction of the garden took into consideration the more than one hundred mature trees that had to be retained and these have helped in the mapping out and structuring of the four zones. One tree in particular inspired the Oak Tree Walk, a timber walkway that circumnavigates this 200 year old oak tree that is at the very centre of the garden and its focal point. Throughout the design and build stages, engagement with the Kew visitor community, local community groups, and organisations with a much larger public reach such as the National Geographic KiDS magazine, has raised the profile of the Children’s Garden and promoted it widely. It is now a hugely popular attraction with high footfall.