start-with-the-park

82 Start with the park
8. Biodiversity
Schemes of all scales should be
designed to work with nature to
encourage biodiversity in green spaces
of all types. The protection and
management of existing areas of valuable
biodiversity should always be the priority,
and where appropriate, habitat creation
on a strategic scale can be used to buffer
and link them. Providing a hierarchy
of green spaces should help to meet
biodiversity conservation objectives, as
each space will offer different habitats
for species. Creating habitats has a
number of benefits. It repairs damaged
or contaminated areas; provides an
attractive and stimulating, wildlife-rich
environment for children and adults; and
reverses long-term habitat loss.
Biodiversity is not just a feature of
nature reserves; parks provide superb
opportunities for meeting Biodiversity
Action Plan targets and bringing
people into closer contact with nature.
With a full understanding of the site’s
ecological context, it will be possible to
make reasonably accurate predictions
about how habitats and species would
develop - e.g. flourish or die – if the level
of management and intervention was
relaxed at some time in the future. Such
knowledge helps designers to work
with the grain of nature, and create a
green space with the best possible
chance of flourishing in a range of
different circumstances.
St George have commissioned a multi-disciplinary
team to create a unique new habitat on the banks of
the River Thames. The tidal and meadow planting
scheme will increase the growth of a diverse range
of flora and fauna, from mud dwelling invertebrates
and butterflies to rare birds
At Holyhead Copse in Sandwell a range of habitats
has been created on previously contaminated land