Case Study - Valentines Park, Redbridge

Programme: Parks for People
Applicant: London Borough of Redbridge
Grant awarded: £3,206,000
Project length: 2 years

Valentines Park Redbridge - printable (MS Word, 4.80MB)

Summary

Valentines Park is the largest formal park in the London Borough of Redbridge and its history as a designed landscape dates back to the late 17th Century when the Mansion was built. Over the following 50 years or so a high quality Rococo landscape was laid out, incorporating a number of grade II listed features, such as shellwork grottoes, a brick and flintwork alcove seat, a Dovecote and Ha Ha, formal water courses, walled gardens, a wilderness, Pleasure Grounds and open parkland. The project aimed to restore these historic features, improve general park management and maintenance, strengthen links with the local community and increase learning opportunities within the park. Visit the London Borough of Redbridge website.

The aims of the project

Refurbish the 19th century boating lake including path renewals, lake dredging and bank repairs with marginal planting, improved signage and interpretation.
Develop a strong learning programme with walks, talks, interpretation and activities.
Strengthen community links by encouraging new volunteers & promoting local activities.
Enhance the informal parkland character by selective tree removal and new planting based on a detailed Tree Strategy, creating meadow areas and thinning shrubberies.
Improve general park maintenance by appointing a Park Manager and two gardeners, and implementing a 5 year strategy.
Upgrade recreational and sporting facilities.
Provide better security by introducing CCTV into the historic core, reducing vegetation in secluded areas and enhancing the Park Police presence.
Reintroduce a productive 18th century kitchen garden in the mansion walled garden.
Use the mansion for events and hospitality to bring income into the park.

Benefits for heritage

The park is restored and upgraded so that it is an asset to the local and wider community.
All listed structures repaired and now removed from the English Heritage ‘At risk‘ register. Inappropriate structures have been removed and new design solutions carefully integrated to link spaces and make the historic landscape accessible to today’s users.

Benefits for people

Recreating the link between the Mansion and its pleasure grounds and gardens has helped people understand the history, explore the site and enjoy the high quality park.
Community facilities in the mansion are expanded and an increased range of public activities take place in the park providing stronger learning opportunities.

Lessons learnt

Managing an HLF contract can be complex and challenging, but it focuses on what is important and measures adherence to budget/programme progress in a meaningful way.
Early investigation is important. Do as much as you can to inform cost planning & design.
You should be on site as much as possible – don’t leave it all to the ‘professionals’
Respond promptly to HLF requests to keep on top of project administration.
Keep principal stakeholders involved.
Make sure you have a project ‘champion’ at the right level in your organisation.
Beware of short contract periods offered by contractors – things can and will go wrong and an overrun is costly in terms of paying for extra work and contract preliminaries.
Keep a clear eye on the result – all contracts have problems and keeping the outcome in mind wards off both compromise and despair.

Long term benefits

The improvements to the long neglected Historic Core have already brought benefits in terms of increased visitor numbers in this part of the park. What was an overgrown area with decaying buildings now boasts improved landscapes and carefully repaired and conserved structures. Borough residents have commented that the restoration has raised the tone of the whole borough and it is clear that local people are now proud of their most valuable heritage asset.
The Park Manager post (appointed June 2008) and the contractual 10 year management & maintenance funding guarantee the long term future of the improvements.
The re-creation of the lost integrity between the Mansion and its formal landscapes has enabled a programme of educational and leisure activities to be developed. These focus on history, gardening and wildlife and children’s activities, all designed to be socially inclusive and appeal to all the borough’s communities.

The budget

Main Project Costs	£	Funding	£
Main contract - Capital/ Repair & conservation work	3,405,658	Total Partnership funding	2,033,686
Professional fees	615,000	Non-cash contributions	7,972
Enhanced maintenance over 10 yrs	1,044,000	HLF grant (61% )	3,023,000
Total costs	5,064,658	Total funding	5,064,658

View of the Dovecote and lawns at Valentines park

Sector

Land and Biodiversity

Activity

Conservation