Intended as a ‘green lung’ to promote health and wellbeing for new residents, Cults Burn Park sits within the first phase of the new community of Countesswells to the west of Aberdeen. One of four parks, the plantings already include a community orchard, 600 trees, 25,000 plants and 34 species of native wildflower.

Who is on the project team? 

Optimised Environments Ltd (OPEN) – Masterplanner, landscape architect, architect

Fairhursts – Engineering

Ironside Farrar – Environmental consultants.

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

Cults Burn Park sits within the first phase of the new community of Countesswells to the west of Aberdeen. One of four main parks, a significant part was in place and functioning in time for the first residents to use and enjoy as a ‘green lung’, providing useable open space which has been designed to address a host of technical and intangible qualities. The Park exemplifies the overall approach of the new community by nestling into the existing landscape and connects two significant woods. The existing public right of way is maintained and enhanced through extensions and formal designations for pedestrians, cyclists and equestrian users with a clear signage system and different materials selected to support movement on foot, bike or horseback.

The overall development of Countesswells has deployed an ‘infrastructure first’ approach to open space and has been designed with a full appreciation of the climate and biodiversity emergency. As an integral part of the overall masterplan, the park links existing woodland areas and enhances and extends an existing Core Path with formal designations for pedestrian, cycle and equestrian movement. The park maximises existing characteristics and integrates rich layers of activities, functions and spaces. Within the first part alone, a community orchard, 600 trees, 25,000 plants, 34 species of native wildflower, have been planted. The aspiration is for a community that spends time not just in their homes but enjoying the space and facilities around them in a way that promotes health and wellbeing.

What is your design approach?

The park design has been described as a ‘step-change’ in design for climate resilience, demonstrating how the developer has recognised the potential of the landscape and the restored watercourse to add value to the housing development while providing a long-term and resilient landscape structure for the new community. Delivery included features which address flood resilience, water quality and biodiversity initiatives while supporting the new community to understand their role in the response to the climate and biodiversity emergency. 

The site is within the watershed of the River Dee, one of the most protected rivers in Europe. Through a particular focus on site drainage, the park design ensures that downstream sensitivities are not impacted by development upstream. The existing agricultural drainage ditches which currently thread through the site are opened up to create naturalised watercourses, with a whole range of cross-sections and meanders, raised terraces, marginal aquatics and bio-diverse planting. 

A Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) has been designed to collect, hold and treat water then release it back to the watercourses at the same or lesser rate than the current situation. SUDS have been designed as more than simply functional grass basins which fill with water during storm events. In day-to-day conditions, they form useable open space whilst also hosting a bio-diverse range of native species including wildflower meadows which have been carefully chose to produce flowering plants from early spring through to autumn.

What is your climate strategy?

The park design has embedded environmental considerations and sustainability on multiple levels, from the treatment of water and consideration of flood risk to the delivery of biodiversity net gain, targeting the creation of new habitats through a close collaborative relationship with the North-east Biodiversity Partnership. A key principle of the park design is the integration of a resilient and future-proofed surface water drainage system which recognises how climate change is impacting rainfall and weather conditions and the resultant pressure on natural systems. 

Key sustainability approaches include:

• The design of a surface water drainage strategy which reflects the importance of the watershed of the River Dee, (one of the most protected rivers in Europe), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a strictly protected site designated under the EC Habitats Directive;

• The SUDS has been designed as more than simply functional grass basins which fill with water during storm events. In day-to-day conditions, they form useable open space whilst also hosting a bio-diverse range of native species within various ground conditions and earth forms;

• Early engagement with North-east Scotland Biodiversity Partnership (NESBP) to collaborate on several projects that aim to protect and increase wildlife within the site and promote better awareness of biodiversity issues to residents; and

• The integration of a park movement network which prioritises walking, cycling, wheeling and equestrian routes which supports an active use of parkland spaces to encourage a healthy population.

How have you engaged the community?

The high-quality and climate resilient design of Cults Burn Park extends to the design of spaces and routes for people and includes community facilities which are proving to have a significant social impact. These features range from site-wide activity routes which accommodate walkers, cyclists and equestrian users to features such as a community orchard which is enclosed by a carefully designed wall constructed from stone reclaimed from the site. The design of the park aims to support and encourage some of the more intangible aspects of a good community through simply making it easy to meet and gather together, as well as provide opportunity for outdoor learning. Key aspects which have fostered a positive social impact include:

• A community orchard constructed from reclaimed material is nestled by the watercourse corridor and provides a resource and focus for the residents;

• A beautiful new watercourse corridor which employs various changes in horizontal and vertical alignment to replicate natural forms and introduce significant biodiversity which has been embraced by the new community and forms a new outdoor meeting space and resource;

• An innovative Management Company has been established to manage open space – all residents become members of that company which will in due course be converted into a Community Interest Company giving ownership of these areas to the Community; and

• The park fills the missing link between two ancient woodlands out with the site to form connections for people and nature into surrounding communities and neighbourhoods.