Location: Walsall, Midlands, UK

Client: One Palfrey Big Local

Located in Walsall, on the outskirts of Brimingham, three existing green spaces of varying scale were identified as requiring substantial improvement in order to better-serve lthe local community: Palfrey Park, Bescot Crescent and Arena Park. MHDS started by studying the interrelationship between these three spaces before developing both ‘quick win’ schemes as well as longer term visions.

Dialogue with local people and the council identified the importance of places for young people, particularly girls - who are underserved by existing facilities. MHDS worked closely with the Big Local group as well as the local Council to find a solution that could be managed in perpetuity.

Location: Solihull, MIdlands, UK

Client: Cars Together Big Local

The development of a new SEND school on adjacent land prompted Cars Big Local consider the future use of a 0.7Ha area of grass at the heart of the Cars neighbourhood, in the hope of having it improved and designated as a Community Asset. 

Listening to the community’s needs, MHDS developed several proposals of varying complexity and cost to influence discussions with the landowner and local council. The field is imagined as a biodiversity-rich pocket park hosting facilities including children’s play, sports and recreation.

Location: Noel Park, Haringey, London

Client: Noel Park Big Local

Completion: due 2024

MHDS were approached by Noel Park Big Local to develop designs for improvement of a much-loved neighbourhood park. Through conversations with the community and a process of optioneering, a proposal formed which will substantially expand the use and benefits of the park.

Key use areas such as play, sport and dog exercise areas are relocated in order to maximise the amount of useable space. The play areas are expanded and diversified in order to allow for a greater range of ages and abilitites. A new woodland play area is located within an existing area of trees.

The project is currently in technical design phase with first phases due to be delivered by London Borough of Haringey in 2024.

Location: City Road, Cardiff

Client: Linc Cymru Housing

Value: £2mil

Status: In Construction

The Cascade Building is an initiative by Linc to provide sheltered housing for those made homeless or close to the streets as part of a program of rehabilitation. The landscape proposals respond to the brief by providing maximum quantum of greening on this small site, to offer a series of therapeutic environments with opportunities for gardening participation. MHDS collaborated with internationally-renowned green infrastructure expert Gary Grant to develop proposals for vertical greening to facades and elevated communal terraces that harvest available rainwater. Rainwater harvesting is achieved at every level of the building as part of a ‘cascading’ continuous system of water management. The project is currently in construction and will deliver significant benefits in terms of urban cooling, SUDs, mental health and biodiversity.

Location: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Client: London Legacy Development Corporation

Construction anticipated 2024

The ongoing regeneration of Stratford following the 2012 Games has benefited greatly from the green infrastructure of Queen Elizabeth Park. The Games required the implementation of several large highways around the periphery of the Park, and LLDC are now in the process of adapting them as part of a portfolio of connectivity projects to projmote green infrastructure and active travel. Whilst working at LLDC, Matt acted as Client to a design team including LDA and Norman Rourke Pryme to produce radical proposals for reconfiguration of the existing Westfield Avenue highway.

By narrowing the road from four lanes to two, it became possible to introduce wider footways, dedicated cycleways and substantial green infrastructure.

Client: Rosherville School and Ebbsfleet Development Corporation

Status: Complete

Rosherville Primary, currently based in Victorian buildings combined with temporary portacabins is due to move to new purpose-built facility in 5 years time. In the interim period there was a desire to improve the schools green spaces taking in student’s input. MHDS embarked on extensive creative engagement with the students to develop proposals.

The emergent design is a series of themed garden ‘rooms’ situated among the four site portacabins, that offer opportunities for learning, social activities, games and growing.

Allotment facilities allow students and staff to learn about healthy eating and biodiversity. BlankWalls contributed colourful graphic floor and wall paintings to lift the space and create an informal setting for games. The result is a vibrant but useful landscape consisting primarily of freestanding furniture that can be taken to the new school site.

Location: Wormholt Park, White City, London

Client: London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham

Value: £900K

Completed: 2015

Completed while at Levitt Bernstein Associates

Wormholt Park is situated within the dense leafy street network of west london and surrounded by schools, helth centre and shops. As part of a mixed use development on its eastern boundary it was able to be reinvigorated with improved access, planting and sports and market facilities as well as a flagship accessible play area. We worked closely with nearby residents, the Friends of Wormholt Park community group, local market traders and primary schools as well as the Parents Active Group representing the parents of children with disabilities. Their expertise was invaluable in what became an extremely collaborative design process

The design process commenced with an appraisal of existing provision of sport, play and planting not just in the park but in other neighbouring green spaces, to understand their value and use, and an identification of key routes and challenges to access. This was informed by a number of consultation events and meetings with stakeholders. The scheme improves connections to surrounding context, making it safer and more inviting. The new mixed use development by Penoyre & Prasad creates a framed entrance and setting for a weekend market. The path network is reconfigured to create a circular running loop and provide improved entrance points at all four corners. Areas of overgrown vegetation and self - seeded trees were cleared in order to open up the central green space and improve visibility and sunlight penetration. Sports & recreation facilities are rationalised and combined at the west end of the park, including a large ball court, multi-use games area and ping pong tables.

‘I am thrilled that Wormholt Park now has an inclusive play area, with wheelchair users having a choice of play equipment to choose from, which is a first in the borough. The park also has a beautifully large accessible open space with beautiful trees and planting.’

Hayley Wedgbury, Parents Active Group

Two new children’s play areas are created with 50% of the amenities inclusive for children with disabilities. The literal translation of ‘Wormholt’ is ‘Dragon Wood’ and this became the concept, with much of the play equipment set within and responding to an existing coniferous wooded area and featuring snaking forms and dragon motifs. A playful bespoke carved dragon slide was inspired by a sketch by an elaborate sketch by local school student and forms the centrepiece of the younger children’s area. A range of abilities and age ranges are catered for with a combination of physical, sensory and imaginative play, as well as equipment specifically for children with severe disabilities. We worked closely with Russell Play to develop bespoke colourful arrangements of equipment attuned to the natural environment.

‘We are very proud to have been part of the transformative process at Wormholt Park and love the positive changes that have been brought about, not only in aesthetics but also by providing better facilities that make the park a more attractive, enjoyable and accessible destination for everyone.’

Derrick Wright, Chair of Friends of Wormholt Park

Biodiversity across the park was improved using a predominantly native planting palette, developed in consultation with Friends of Wormholt Park and the Borough Ecologist. A sensitive successional approach was taken with a proportion of overgrown or poorly-performing planting replaced with new pants and trees designed to ensure year-round seasonal interest.

The Park was reopened in 2015 and has been the setting for Borough-wide festivals, markets and even weddings. It is much-loved by the community, received a Green Flag award in 2017 and has become a flagship play area for children of a wide range of abilities.

Location: Somers Town, Camden, London

Construction completion anticipated: 2024

Whilst at DSDHA, Matt worked on the mixed - use masterplan for Central Somers Town, now in final stages of completion. The masterplan features buildings by Adam Khan Architects, Duggan Morris, Hayhurst and Co and DRMM.

The masterplan provides renewed education facilities and housing, arranged around a central park, and demonstrates no net loss of green open space.

‘Breathing Spaces’ seeks to provide clean air refuges along the historic viaduct between Bermondsey and Southwark Underground Stations to create a contiuous walking route. MHDS were shortlisted as part of a final five from the original 88 entries. Creating biophilic green spaces free from air, noise and light pollution benefits not only our physical wellbeing, but also our mental health, productivity and the local economy.

Breathing spaces proposes creating alternative pedestrian and cycle connections combining the narrow spaces either side of the viaduct with new connections through the archways, and indoingso unlocks a series of archway units for health and wellbeing uses. A repeating, reconfigurable palette of street furniture and green infrastructure interventions is applied along the route in order to aid legibility of these diverse spaces

The Low Line walking route was inspired by Manhattan’s High Line elevated linear park and forms part of a wider strategy by Better Bankside to regenerate the Bankside area. The historic viaducts around London Bridge have proved attractive for bars, cafes, small cultural institutions & venues, startups, gastronomic industries and microbreweries. The Low Line route provides a continuous walking route taking in these attractions and could be an important piece of green infrastructure, in a particularly barren and polluted part of Central London. The RIBA competition is supported by Friends of the Low Line and the Lund Trust.

A suite of 12 custom build homes are sensitively-located with an inclined homes. MHDS worked alongside Pitman Tozer & Mae Architects and Unboxed Homes to secure planning approval for this site in Laindon, Essex.

The landscape is intended as a natural semi-wild backdrop complimenting the multiple housing typologies. The scheme works in harmony with the existing levels and attempts to retain existing vegetation wherever possible, with hard surfacing kept to an absolute minimum. It provides a green and communal alternative to the manicured car-centric developments that predominate, with residents able not only to influence the design of their home but also having a say in the evolution and management of the landscape.

Indigenous biodiverse planting augments the existing site character with a significant buffer hedgerow defining the site boundary and screening it from the neighbouring Grade 1 listed St Nicholas Church and associated churchyard.

The 12 homes are united around a central wooded green space or ‘common’ with space for play and communal activity. Existing footways are retained and augmented with additional connections in order to provide alternative pedestrian routes to nearby shops, schools and public transport.

Shortlisted design for the Ebbsfleet Garden City Ideas competition.

Undertaken in collaboration with Ryan Szanyi, Architect & Digital designer.

The Chalk Walk seeks to build on the success of recent guided walking tours in Ebbsfleet, and the appetite for exploration and learning about nature. A Circular walking route would be created, orientated around the site’s monolithic man-made chalk landscape features; punctuated by a series of vertical gardens built into the chalk.

Expert advice was sought from two environmental conservation groups working in the local area to create a series of nature interventions that combine to form an educational wildlife trail. The Chalk Walk would be implemented prior to the main development, employing a series of devices connecting new and existing communities to one another, in order to greatly improve access to nature.

Working with Swanscombe and Greenhithe Local Partnership and Ebbsfleet Development Corporation on the design of a new allotment space in the grounds of the St Peter and Pauls Church Hall. The Client wanted to re-establish the connection between people, growing and eating and bring together new and existing communities.

Large raised growing beds, trellises and sustainable irrigation and composting equipment are provided, with produce used to serve the Church Hall’s Dinner Club for local elderly people.

A strong presence on street is necessary to publicise the initiative and inspire local people to get involved.

Delivery of several phases of the residential masterplan from early stages through to completion. Neighbourhood public squares and doorstep play facilities, interconnected by residential streets and mewses. Collaboration with Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park to produce a green mosaic of biodiverse roof spaces.

A new high-density community is emerging along the Greenwich Peninsula, demanding a responsive and multilayered residential landscape solution. Working with Allies & Morrison and Alison Brookes Architects, distinct briefs were devleoped for two adjacent plots. Public and communal spaces are proposed at street level, podium and roof with possibilities for play, exercise, relaxation and home-working exploited.

The plot 19.04 first floor podium features dense woodland planting with verdant shade tolerant planting. A network of paths and small openings allow residents to find their own calming space.

This work was completed whilst working at Turkington Martin Landscape Architects