Claremont Park, Brent Cross Town, Barnet – Related Argent with HTA Design, Townshend Landscape Architects, Erect Architecture

Claremont Park is part of the wider Brent Cross Town development. A natural amphitheatre and stage, the Water Meadows play park, nature trails including 300 new trees and a new community-run ice-cream parlour bring new amenities and leisure space to the rejuvenated space.

Who is on the project team? 

Townshend Landscape Architects – Concept landscape architect

 Design LLP – Delivery landscape architect & lead planting designers

Estudiomix – Planting design consultant

Erect Architecture – Main play area lead designer

FCH architects – Delivery architect for the kiosk

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

Claremont Park is a new 4.5 acre park and public amenity at Brent Cross Town, one of Europe’s largest regeneration projects. Brent Cross Town is an £8 billion, 180-acre development being delivered by Related Argent and Barnet Council that is transforming an overlooked, underprovided area into a thriving, inclusive net zero carbon town. Over the next 15 years, the town will deliver nearly 7,000 new homes, a new knowledge and innovation hub with 3m sq ft of new office space, new schools and a university, a new high street and 50 acres of parks and playing fields. Construction of the first buildings, which includes homes to buy, affordable homes and student accommodation, started in October 2022 with residents moving in from late 2024. Claremont Park opened to the public in June 2022. The early delivery of the park, the first of seven new permanent parks for the neighbourhood, reflects Brent Cross Town’s ambition to support health and wellbeing, and to create London’s new destination for sport and play. It also aligns with the commitment to deliver local amenities and social infrastructure first ensuring the local community feels the benefit of the scheme from the outset.

Tell us what you did and how the project enlivened the place?  

Claremont Park transformed and brought new life to an existing open space, creating a space for the local community to relax, be active, socialise and interact with the natural environment. It now provides green space, imaginative play facilities, water features, nature trails and a new community-run Kiosk, as well as over 300 new trees.

The park’s design is guided by a set of principles which include; creating social spaces which encourage interaction; improving connectivity; being accessible and inclusive; and creating real opportunities for play, leisure and exercise. These have been brought to life through spaces and facilities which cater to diverse range of users and welcome all members of the community for relaxation, play and socialising.

Nature: The natural landscape has been designed to support biodiversity and environmental sustainability, with more than 300 new trees being planted and wildflower meadows created across the park, and nature trails to encourage exploration and learning. Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) have been integrated in the form of swales and a large pond. The pond provides new water habitat and offers a unique opportunity for local people to engage from its floating viewing pontoon.

Play: Play is a key feature. The Water Meadows play park, named by local school children in honour of Brent’s waterways, is an exciting bespoke playground which offers facilities for imaginative and collaborative play. Natural materials have been used throughout, such as reclaimed timbers from Woolwich Pier on the children’s climbing structures. Water play is also provided with pumps and sand pits. The Pocket Sports Zone encourages sporting activities such as basketball, skating and scootering, with mini jumps and ramps.

Socialising: Social spaces have been designed to create opportunities for people to interact, with a natural amphitheatre and stage; benches and picnic tables; a woodland walk and a pond designed with a decked platform.

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? 

At the heart of the design for the new park was an ambition to create a place which people wanted to visit time and time again, a place that was attractive and enjoyable throughout the seasons, and which provided spaces where all ages could spend more time outdoors, learn and play together and lead healthier lives. The design recognises that nature and greenspaces have proven benefits for mental and physical health. Nestling between lush planting, exciting new play facilities include skate areas, meandering play paths and imaginative climbing structures, as well as waterplay inspired by existing nature and local history, which encourages creativity and inclusivity through play. Brent Cross Town activates Claremont Park with events throughout the year to give residents reasons to return. This has included a week-long celebration of the park’s opening with music, face painting and sports taster sessions, a summer programme which offered hosted activities such as craft and art, basketball and skateboarding coaching, as well as free to use activities like giant games, and the #TimeTogether campaign with Women in Sport giving mums and teenagers daughters free access to exercise classes.

To improve canopy cover more than 300 new trees have been planted. In lieu of the former low value amenity grass, Claremont Park now boosts a rich tapestry of biodiverse and wildlife attracting wildflower meadows, species rich lawns, native aquatic planting, native woodland understorey as well as native hedges. SuDS were incorporated in the form of a new pond fed by swales and filter drains which collect all surface water within the park. These features ensure that Claremont Park plays an important role in improving the local area’s biodiversity and mitigates against flooding.