UK: Developer Canary Wharf Group (CWG) has partnered with Cornish eco visitor attraction the Eden Project to help model how biodiversity can be boosted in urban environments.
Under the partnership, Canary Wharf Group will install a range of new features at its estate in London’s Docklands, which it is describing as a “green spine”. Parks and gardens will be expanded, new terrestrial and marine plants will be added and waterside access improved.
Glenn Howells Architects has been commissioned to develop an overall masterplan for improving Canary Wharf’s existing public spaces and waterways with a focus on improving visitor wellbeing and biodiversity.
Learnings from this project will be documented to help create a blueprint for other urban areas to use in creating spaces that “work for nature as well as people”, Canary Wharf Group said in a statement. Timelines for the creation of the blueprint have not yet been confirmed.
The Eden Project is an educational charity and social enterprise based in Cornwall, founded more than 20 years ago. Its global mission is “to create a movement that builds relationships between people and the natural world to demonstrate the power of working together for the benefit of all living things”. The partnership will also see the Eden Project using Canary Wharf as its London base, helping it to extend its engagement activities with the private sector and the general public.
Shobi Khan, CEO of CWG said: “Our urbanising world cannot become sustainable until cities work for nature as well as people. In partnering with biodiversity expert, the Eden Project, CWG will accelerate thinking and action on how urban environments can be re-designed with nature at the heart. Sustainability has been front and centre for CWG’s buildings over the last 20 years. We already have over 20 acres of parks and gardens and five kilometres of waterside paths. Our partnership with the Eden Project will ensure these spaces and new areas support the ecosystems that people and nature depend on as we bring transformational change to the estate.”
Eden Project chief executive David Harland said: “Canary Wharf Group and the Eden Project are both based on the transformational redevelopment of a former industrial site into a world-renowned icon of regeneration; our exciting new partnership feels natural and vital. Eden’s known track record in sustainability leadership aligned with the Canary Wharf Group’s consistently high sustainability ratings for their buildings offers a great platform upon which to build on. There is not a moment to waste. CWG and Eden are primed and ready to work together not just to make Canary Wharf a greener place rich in biodiversity, but also to share what we learn in order to bring nature back to other urban developments in the UK and across the globe,” he added.
Canary Wharf Group has certified all projects via the BREEAM scheme since it launched in 1998 and how has more than 10 million square feet of certified floorspace.
The partnership builds on Canary Wharf Group’s existing Biodiversity Action Plan. Published in 2018, the Action Plan spans through to 2028 and states that no new developments will be approved unless they generate biodiversity net gain on-site.
