Estate regeneration - Grahame Park

Grahame Park was Barnet Council’s largest housing estate with 1,777 homes built by the GLC in the 1970’s. 

This project when complete will provide 3,000 new homes ranging from one-bedroom apartments to four-bedroom houses, over an 18 year programme. New Shops, Community facilities and parks will also be created as part of the masterplan for the new estate to be called New Hendon Village.  

A fundamental element of the regeneration was the establishing of the Grahame Park Partnership Board to oversee the regeneration of the Grahame Park Estate. The Board members include local London Borough of Barnet councillors, senior representatives of Notting Hill Genesis housing association and Countryside and resident representatives. It’s key functions are to foster partnership working, indicate the different strands of work, establish a vision and then monitor its achievement.  

Countryside’s Community Development Director has also been working with the Wright Trust, set up by Notting Hill Genesis Housing Group, to ensure that the regeneration programme for Grahame Park is not solely concerned with physical regeneration, but also strives to improve the quality of life for local residents by addressing the causes of social and economic deprivation.  

The developments greenspace began as an urban wasteland that was a haven for crime, with no lighting to help navigate the undulating pathways that in some cases, had trees growing through them making the pathways unsuitable for those of diminished physical ability. Countryside remodelled and enhanced the open space into an easily walkable park designed with safe by design principles in mind and its own lighting strategy. The pathways were regraded and reproved in a modern and easily walkable pathways for those of all physical abilities, making the park more inclusive and better integrated into the community.  

The open space has also formed a large green hub of ecological gain within the development, we remodelled and increased the ponds within the park to include features such as water-edge decks and bridges. We planted wetland planting to decrease the possibility of flooding and make the development drain sustainably into the park. Due to the planting provided and the improvements into the greenspace, the development also provided an oasis for ecology within London and an asset for the local residents to enjoy.