Last week I attended a really interesting webinar at The Garden Museum with a discussion of the Camden High Line project and other community projects on brownfield sites and how the development of these sites can help to increase biodiversity in the capital.
The Camden High Line project, which has just secured planning permission for the first section of the project, is an exciting community project looking to bring much needed green space to London and link the communities of Camden and Kings Cross, with increased biodiversity and improved ecological use of the site.
The site, which is a 1.2km stretch of disused railway, formerly part of the North London Railway, will be developed into a new elevated park and walking route. The current planning permission is for the first section of the project, from Camden Gardens to Royal College Street. Two subsequent sections will run from Royal College Street to Camley Street, and Camley Street to York Way.
Each section of the Highline will have a different character, in direct response to the neighbourhood through which it travels, and will reflect Camden’s unique identity. See an explanation of the design rationale of each space along the route here.
The project was started as community crowd funded but now has some has some key industry involvement including lead architects - and designers of the New York High Line - James Corner Field Operations, local architecture practice vPPR, the Camden Highline team, and community engagement specialists Street Space, and Piet Oudolf who designed the planting for the New York High Line.
Community involvement is key to this projects success. To date, 1,600 people have been on a walking tour of the route, 300 people have taken part in volunteering activities, and more than 1,000 people have donated to the project and the charity has delivered 1,000 hours of education workshops within local schools. If you would like to help support this project click here.