Elephant Park Masterplan
A landscape led masterplan transforming the former Heygate Estate into one of London’s most sustainable mixed use neighbourhoods.
Elephant and Castle, London, UK
Gillespies has delivered a landscape masterplan for the regeneration of the Heygate Estate in Elephant and Castle, south London, into a pioneering mixed-use scheme set within 11-acres of significantly enhanced public realm.
Elephant Park is an 11 acre regeneration at the heart of Elephant and Castle in south London. Delivered by Lendlease, the scheme replaces the former Heygate Estate with a pioneering mixed use neighbourhood that will provide around 3,000 new homes, alongside shops, workspaces, community facilities and generous public realm over a 15 year programme.
Gillespies is the public realm masterplanner for the overall regeneration and the landscape architect for several individual phases, including the new central park. The vision is to restore and transform Elephant and Castle into one of London’s most flourishing and environmentally responsive urban quarters.
A Park at the heart of the community
At the centre of the masterplan is a new community park designed to bring nature back into the heart of the city. This generous green space anchors the wider development and establishes a strong identity rooted in landscape.
The park is complemented by a network of green spaces, civic squares and playable areas woven throughout the neighbourhood. Together they create a layered and accessible public realm that supports everyday life, from informal recreation and community events to quiet moments within biodiverse planting.
Connecting a fragmented urban fabric
A key objective of the masterplan is to repair and reconnect the surrounding streets. The framework introduces ten new routes through the site, improving permeability and creating safer, more legible connections for pedestrians and cyclists.
These routes link homes, schools, shops and transport hubs, embedding active travel at the core of the neighbourhood. The result is a more open and inclusive urban environment that prioritises people over vehicles.
Award
Year
Developer Magazine Pineapple Awards - Place in Progress
2022
A climate responsive landscape
The landscape at Elephant Park has been shaped with long term resilience in mind. The planting across the site is organised into a series of communities that respond directly to the site’s soil conditions and patterns of sun and shade. We have combined native and non native species to create a layered and diverse structure that supports biodiversity while remaining tough enough to thrive in a dense urban setting. The intention is to establish planting that will settle in, adapt and improve with time.
Rain gardens play a key role in managing water across the site. Rather than directing runoff straight into the sewer network, water is slowed, filtered and allowed to infiltrate through engineered soil layers before reaching the Kempton gravel below. The system has been designed to cope with significant storm events, ensuring the landscape remains functional as rainfall patterns become more extreme.
Salvaged logs are placed within beds to provide habitat for invertebrates, while bird and bat boxes, along with pollinator habitats, have been installed in consultation with ecologists. These elements are not decorative additions but part of the working ecology of the park.
Project details
Title
Elephant Park Masterplan
Client
Lend Lease
Status
Complete
Gillespies team
Armel Mourgue, Stephen Richards, Neil Matthew, Giacomo Guzzon
Photography
John Sturrock, Timothy Soar
