London: housing estate becomes a “newt's paradise” by combining nature and new buildings
Kyiv • UNN
In London, the new Kidbrooke Village development has become a thriving ecosystem for people and wildlife. Through collaboration with environmentalists, developers have created a harmonious environment.
A new development in southeast London, connecting a park with nature reserves, is gradually transforming into a thriving community for people and nature, reports The Guardian, reports UNN.
Details
The post-war Ferrier Estate housing estate in Kidbrooke, Greenwich (a town in southeast London) was demolished in 2009. The aim of this step was to ‘revive’ the territory.
Now it is the site for Kidbrooke Village - a development of 5,000 homes designed with the needs of wildlife in mind.
The Guardian writes that all the gray concrete blocks characteristic of Ferrier Estate, Kidbrooke - have disappeared, but in their place there are red brick apartments overlooking wetlands, ponds and meadows.
The development of new houses and a property complex in this place has implemented a project in which the needs of people and wildlife are "harmoniously combined".
Nature around Kidbrooke Village
On the "risky" territory, where the water flow sometimes flooded so much that local businesses and properties were on the verge of risky losses, a group of houses has now been created, with apartments overlooking the new, landscaped ponds of the local Quaggy River.
An expert from London Wildlife TrustThus, the once flood-prone river now flows through an extended floodplain that protects these houses. This also creates a habitat for amphibians and birds, such as newts, kingfishers, bats, etc.
The architecture of the houses has built-in ‘bat boxes’ and ‘speed bricks’. So, birdsong fills the air of the area.
The wildlife conservation foundations work closely with the housing developers. The aim is to study and support this combination, in which quality houses are located next to ‘natural habitat’.
Opinion of a London Wildlife Trust expert
David Mooney, Executive Director of the London Wildlife Trust, talks about the involvement of environmentalists to study this combination - apartments around natural areas.
"We were initially brought in to find a nature-based solution to deal with the flooding of the Quaggy River. We connected it to the floodplain and created sustainable urban drainage systems, and then worked with Berkeley Homes to build these apartments around the new wetlands," says David Mooney, CEO of the London Wildlife Fund, about the Kidbrooke settlement.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which is currently going through the British Parliament, removes some of the requirements for developers to conserve nature, which will make it easier to build houses without this green infrastructure.
The Treasury is driving this false wedge between houses and nature, but we have been working with developers in harmony for years. Some developers are not as conscientious as others, but good companies want nature around new buildings. It improves the mental health of the people who live there because nature is on their doorstep, reduces flooding, provides shade and has many other benefits.
It also saves money and maintenance to have wild places, as they don't need to be mowed or cleaned up, he added.
Pointing to the meadows and ponds, he said: "They could have built on this site. It wasn't a green area, it was concrete. It was a forbidden wasteland. For some unscrupulous developers and, obviously, for Rachel Reeves, this should have been built. But what does that give? People like to be in this space."
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