Crawter's Brook Park, Crawley, West Sussex

Crawter's Brook Park, Crawley, West Sussex

Crawley, West Sussex

Parks and gardens

Allen Scott Ltd

Manor Royal Business District

The designation of Crawley as a New Town alongside the development of Gatwick Airport, were the primary drivers behind the emergence of the Manor Royal Business District (MRBD). Today, the area is home to more than 500 businesses and provides approximately 30,000 jobs. Although the area, with links to London and Gatwick Airport, is very well situated in the market, the quality of the built environment is generally poor. There is a huge scarcity of open space and facilities, the area is confusing to navigate, lacking landmarks and green infrastructure, and the majority of people make their journeys by car rather than cycling, walking or public transport. Allen Scott were appointed by MRBD, a business improvement district in Crawley, West Sussex to produce a prospectus of capital improvement projects that could be delivered over an extended period of time to address the above issues. Crawter’s Brook is the first public realm project to be delivered from the prospectus. Crawter’s Brook was a neglected and undervalued remnant field parcel and woodland in an otherwise built-up industrial area. The site functions as a wildlife corridor, following the line of a canalized stream until it meets a SNCI 300m to the north. It also functions as a flood attenuation area. The land has been subject to a number of development proposals over the years, but due to the above constraints remained undeveloped. Planning policy states that amenity open space, nature conservation and recreation are classified as ‘water compatible developments’, and as such appropriate activities can take place as long as the area remains operational and safe for users in times of flood and does not result in a loss of storage capacity or increase flood risk elsewhere. The brief was to provide a new public park that would act as a catalyst and precedent for the regeneration of other neglected pieces of land; to create a distinct landmark at one of the key entrances to the business district; and to ensure that the proposals and future upkeep are designed, delivered and managed sustainably. The brief emphasised the need to find new and more co-operative ways of looking after projects once they are completed and involving local people.

Highly commended LI Awards 2016

Landscape practice: Allen Scott; client: Manor Royal Business District; steering group: Crawley Borough Council, West Sussex County Council and Sussex Wildlife Trust; engineer: Waterman Infrastructure & Environment; contractor: Edburton Contractors; subcontractors: Katsura Gardens; fabricators: Laddingford Engineering (metal work); Albion Architectural (concrete); Adam Kershaw (timber elements); and Arc Creative (interpretation)

2014

3 ha

'£345,000

The south entrance has been designed to fulfil a variety of functions. It acts both as a dynamic and static space; its distinctly directional layout is designed to entice people into and through the park, whilst also providing seating and space to linger and people-watch. It is also intended to function as a landmark at this key entrance point to Manor Royal. The scale, geometries and materials of the various elements in this area are designed to be highly legible and work together to reinforce the concept. The materials and planting are restrained, robust and appropriate to the site and context. The existing culverts, control structures, and canalised stream all, in different ways, use concrete; corten steel has an affinity with the ‘forgotten' qualities of the space and industrial context; willow trees grow in the basin and are synonymous with water - we wanted to draw on this association; limestone to dust paths (on a cellular confinement system) are versatile and work well in both formal and informal contexts; and the douglas fir and oak seats provide much needed tactile elements to the design. The planting aesthetic can be described as a kind of stylised naturalism and plays on themes of contrast and juxtaposition. We used willow trees, which are often associated with water and natural habitats, but arranged them in a clear line, in pollarded form. The way they move in the wind, their texture and colour contrast strikingly with the built elements of the design.