London Bridge passengers can escape the rush with a garden oasis at Stainer Street
Passengers at London Bridge station can now escape the hustle and bustle of their daily commutes after the Stainer Street walkway was transformed into a temporary urban oasis.
Those in need of a moment of tranquillity can now find it in four temporary public gardens, created using materials recycled from the recent RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival.
The gardens were commissioned by Team London Bridge, the local business improvement district (BID), with support from Network Rail and delivered by Cityscapes, following on from their highly acclaimed 2013 Remix Garden project.
Richard Emmins, station interface manager for Network Rail, said: “Stainer Street is already one of the most interesting parts of the station, with Victorian-era brickwork alongside the amazing artwork installed last year.
“Adding the New Forms gardens makes the area even more impressive and we hope passengers enjoy the peace and tranquillity they bring to the station.”
Henry Johnstone, business and operations manager for Team London Bridge, added: “We’re delighted that the New Forms gardens have been so well received by the public already and are very grateful for Network Rail’s support in making it happen.
“The project shows how strong the desire is to have greener, more sustainable cities and this is proof that it can be done in unique and creative ways.
“We’d like to thank all of the designers for such remarkable creations, and Cityscapes for another successful collaboration to improve our public realm. New Forms is one of many projects in our strategy to make London Bridge a place to ‘come to’ rather than ‘go though’.”
By reusing materials from the RHS Hampton Court Garden Festival, New Forms highlights sustainable approaches to design, showing how hard landscaping materials can find innovative upcycled afterlives, and how plants can be used in unusual urban locations.
At the end of the project the materials and plants will find new afterlives in local community projects.
