Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

London Legacy Development Corporation's purpose is to use the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the London 2012 Games and the creation of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to develop a dynamic new heart for east London, creating opportunities for local people and driving innovation and growth in London and the UK. The suite of documents has been developed since the first Park Management Plan and Biodiversity Action Plan. It now also includes a Park Design Guide and Park Significance Study, to guide the growth, operation and management of the LLDC Estate. The Executive Summary provides an engaging overview explaining the complexities of managing the Park to a wider audience.

The project aims to make documents accessible and influential in terms of delivering high quality landscape, green infrastructure and parklands using Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a precedent. The stewardship challenge going forward is making sure that the quality of the Park is secured and that future changes and developments consider landscape as an effective way to deliver benefits and value.

LLDC commissioned several architectural practices to help produce or support the compilation of documents. Working with in-house landscape architects the documents have be guided and crafted to meet the overall vision, objectives and priority themes of the organisation. The original Park Management Plan and BAP documents produced 5 years ago were great building blocks to develop further with input from park management professionals and local people. Each document in the suite has a specific role in the management of the LLDC Estate and was developed to be used by multiple users from planners, developer, local residents and businesses as well as other built environment professionals.

The Park Management Plan has been developed with LLDC Staff, Our Parklife and our current landscape management contractor, idverde. This plan guides the landscape management of the parklands and green infrastructure within a prescribed boundary. The Executive Summary of the plan makes the landscape management accessible to a wider audience by using a highly graphic style and digestible overview of the management complexities.

The Park Design Guide catalogues the design features on the Park for future reference and signposts designers to policies and resources. It helps influence design changes within the LLDC area, particularly directly adjacent to the Park.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Significance Study: Managing Change sets out a methodology to understand the value of the Park using Historic England guidance. It embeds a Natural Capital Accounting approach and covers ecological value so that proposals can be considered carefully with a sensitivity to the landscape qualities.

Finally, the Biodiversity Action Plan has been updated and made more engaging with the inclusion of photographs and maps.

The overarching project to invest in the management of the Park has helped drive the effective stewardship and identify our most valued places and features in its landscape. As a suite of documents, it aims to go beyond how a landscape is managed and maintained and the associated costs, to identify and quantify the physical and financial benefits of parks and open spaces to society. These values have led the way in showcasing and promote an understanding of value and benefits of investing in landscape.