BM3 Landscape was appointed by Rooftop to create a small garden adjacent to its new development on Paul Street in Tredworth, a historic suburb of south of Gloucester city centre. The site comprises and old industrial site, with a rich history starting in the late Victorian period when the site was home to the Hatherley Works, producers of the Lattisteps step ladders, to its acquisition by the Ministry of Aircraft Production during World War II, when it may have been used for production of components for the Hurricane Typhoon.
Situated adjacent to the Sud Brook, the site is well overlooked by the adjacent new development at Paul Street, despite its sensitive location behind properties of Melbourne Street East, and comprises an ideal location for tranquil garden space for use by the local community.
The proposals are for a characterful ‘secret’ garden that takes design queues from the Victorian origins of the neighbourhood. Retention and refurbishment of the existing heritage wall at Hatherley Road will create an inviting entrance while contributing to the street scenes by creating view ‘windows’ into the garden. Upon arrival, users will have a choice of heading straight to the waterfront to lean against the railings and watch the Grey Wagtails feed along the river course, lie on the south facing lawn or take a seat within the garden courtyard.
Various landscape elements are designed to be playable, e.g. balancing on planting bed edges or jumping over surface patterns. Meanwhile, adults and older children can mingle in the seating areas while children play safely within the enclosed garden space. We propose the use of ‘rain gardens’ throughout by careful construction of beds and plant selection. Plants will be selected to be as low maintenance as possible while still being able to tolerate occasional water-logging. This will allow the flood prone site to act as temporary surface water storage, as previously recommended by the wider Paul Street development site drainage strategy.
