New Greenspace

Local Environment: How the Campus will enhance west-Watford

One of the primary focuses of the Watford Health Campus project is to regenerate what is currently a run-down, dilapidated part-urban wasteland site in the heart of the town, taking a once industrial brownfieldland and transforming it into a place local people can be truly proud of, featuring stunning architecture and modern, effective buildings. Even in the earliest project stages, plans for the Campus drew great praise from CABE –the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment –who praised the stakeholders for their commitment in presenting a realistic, robust andwell considered masterplan that has also considered, from the outset, traffic and parking issues that too often are taken in isolation to the wider context of planning.

As the Campus reclaims predominantly brownfieldland –including contaminated sections of the site, which will be remediated –this alleviates pressure for greenbelt, greenfieldor in-fill development for the building of hospitals homes and business that are included in the masterplanfor the Campus site. A brief look at today’s decaying site, juxtaposed with the vision for the future, clearly defines the objectives of the Watford Health Campus, which aims to make west-Watford a brighter, safer, healthier place to live, work and play in.

Public Open Spaces: Creating outdoor urban space at the Campus. Greening west-Watford

One of the many benefits the Watford Health Campus should bring to the locality is an increase in shared public open spaces, from green parkland areas and riverside views and walkways, to open urban public piazzas and squares, linking buildings retail outlets and leisure facilities. The site will be designed and constructed in such a way that the local community will have a new focal point, a place to mingle, chat and integrate, ina clean, spacious, safe environment. A key commitment of the Watford Health Campus is to increase the overall green spaces available to the community. This is being achieved by several methods, such as:

• Retaining and improving existing working allotment gardens
• Creating significant landscaped public open spaces
• Enhancing access to existing and newly created green open spaces
• Enhancing and creating access to waterside walks and space
• Enhancing and creating new habitats to encourage bio-diversity

With a large proportion of the site currently unattractive brownfieldland, the landscaping of new parkland and a native tree planting initiative will create the accessible urban green space the area craves for, brining new flora and fauna to the area.

Riverside Development: Water features for the Watford Health Campus

With the town of Watford having grown up around the river Colneas well as the Grand Union Canal during the industrial revolution, waterside development is a strong focus for the Watford Health Campus. Plans for the Campus include the development of a lake on the site,that will provide a new bio-habitat for west-Watford and with it attract new insect and other wildlife as well as new plant types. The lake will also provide a community amenity
and an improved visual environment, far removed from the existing industrial landscape that the site displays today. Alongside the existing river Colne there will be accessible riverside walks and areas of associated parkland where the community and workers can break from rigoursof urban daily life to relax and enjoy the fresh outlook.

Allotment Holders Association: Allotment holders working with the Campus

Partnership working is one of the real successes the Watford Health Campus has shown, not just at stakeholder level, but at community level, where the Campus comes to life for the people of Watford. One such group who has worked hard with the Campus to ensure everybody’s needs are equally met, are the Farm Terrace allotment holders association, who have helped the campus and its stakeholders achieve several positive outcomes to help move the project forward.