Regenerating Crystal Palace Park

“This is a major step towards the regeneration of Crystal Palace Park, taking us closer to reimagining Britain’s parks as climate resilient, biodiverse and accessible spaces for all. By celebrating and protecting the site’s historic significance through the restoration and unearthing of its beautiful, listed features, the proposals will re-establish one of London’s legacy parks as an international destination.” says HTA Design’s Landscape Design Director who is behind this iconic South London transformation.

The London Borough of Bromley has recently approved plans for the first phase of its £52m Crystal Palace Park Regeneration Plan, developed by a team of specialist consultants led by HTA Design. The proposals will restore historic features including the beloved Grade-I Dinosaur sculptures and the Grade-II listed Italian Terraces.

This phase, worth £17.5m, forms part of the wider plan to reinvigorate Sir Joseph Paxton’s Grade-II* listed park led by the London Borough of Bromley in partnership with the Crystal Palace Park Trust, who assumed responsibility for the management of the park as part of a historic handover in September 2023.

Hear from Natalia Roussou CMLI, Landscape Design Director at HTA Design :

“The landscape proposals will seek to enhance the park’s incredible green spaces through the restoration of its heritage assets and identifying areas that can accommodate change such as events, activities and new interventions.

“The Geological Court represented a primitive landscape for Paxton. Situated at the lowest level of the sloping park, the area was designed as a landscape of water and geological strata associated with prehistory and ‘antediluvian creatures’. Our proposal starts from removing harmful layers, built up since the 1850s, to reveal the site’s sculpted topography, iconic Dinosaur sculptures and geology, reigniting imagination and connecting the past, present and future. New connections will be made through paleo-inspired planting, rock formations, and a Heritage Trail integrated throughout the site.

“The Italian Terraces are the last standing element of the Crystal Palace and a testament to the exceptional scale and grandeur of the building and its setting. The proposal draws from the distinctive remaining characteristics of the space, sculpting the topography to maximise views out and introduce SuDS to manage stormwater and improve drainage. In addition to this, the design interprets the Victorian cutting edge horticulture into contemporary innovative planting design, considering climate change and maintenance requirements. Butterfly-attracting flowering meadows are proposed to replace Victorian ‘mosaiculture butterfly beds’, maximising biodiversity and visual display. Better accessibility is at the heart of the proposals to ensure all visitors can use and enjoy the park through new ramps sensitively integrated where original staircases have been lost on the Italian Terraces.

“Sustainability has also been considered throughout the park through strategies to reduce the amount of imported material, reusing as much site-won soil as possible, and re-purposing lake silt to form shelves that support aquatic and marginal planting, helping to lower the lake’s water temperature.”

Project overview

Following further consultation and close engagement with the local community, the plans for the first phase will deliver:

• The restoration of the Grade-I listed Geological Court, including the Dinosaur sculptures and an enhanced landscape setting
• A new Dinosaur and geologically themed play area
• The restoration of the Grade-II Italian Terraces
• A new Information Centre and maintenance facility
• A new feature entrance at Penge Gate
• Improved lighting, wayfinding, and accessibility around the Tidal Lakes and Italian Terraces

Hear from project partners

Victoria Pinnington, Chief Executive Officer, Crystal Palace Park Trust said: “We’re thrilled to have reached this major milestone in the history of Crystal Palace Park and the good news couldn’t be any more timely, with 2024 marking the 170th anniversary of the opening of this unique landscape. The regeneration works that have been approved are vital to ensuring that the park’s heritage assets are taken off the Heritage at Risk Register and protected for the benefit of generations to come. Our local community has long been aware of quite how special this park is. Once the works are completed, the Trust looks forward to sharing the story of ‘the world’s first theme park’ and welcoming many more people to this corner of south London in the years to come.”

Councillor Yvonne Bear, Executive Councillor for Renewal, Recreation and Housing, said: “I am delighted that our aspirations for the regeneration of the Crystal Palace Park have now had the necessary approvals and we can forge ahead with our vision for a revitalised green space for residents and visitors. The efforts of HTA Design, local groups and partners and Crystal Palace Park Trust have come to fruition in our bold heritage project about which we can be truly proud and which will benefit not only residents and visitors now but future generations to come.”