Harton Quays Park, South Shields, achieves CEEQUAL status
£2.3m waterfront park designed by Grant Associates wins sustainability accolade
11 FEBRUARY 2013, SOUTH SHIELDS UK; BATH UK
Summary
Harton Quays Park, the £2.3 million waterfront park in South Shields designed by landscape architects Grant Associates for South Tyneside Council, has been awarded a specialist CEEQUAL Client & Design Award for excellence in sustainability.When complete, Harton Quays Park will stretch along the River Tyne from South Shields ferry landing to the Customs House and feature curved embankments, an amphitheatre, lawns and colourful planting, a promenade, sheltered gardens and a dramatic pine grove viewing point. A curved ribbon wall made up of 144 precast concrete panels is just one of the key features of the new scheme.
The park is part of a wider regeneration masterplan for South Shields Riverside, joint-funded by South Tyneside Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.
'Very Good' CEEQUAL Award
CEEQUAL is an evidence-based Sustainability Assessment and Awards Scheme for civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and the public realm. The award celebrates the achievement of high environmental and social performance.
Harton Quays Park has received a ‘Very Good’ commendation as part of the CEEQUAL award assessment, thanks to the collaborative efforts of designers working on the scheme, led by Grant Associates and civil engineers Mott MacDonald.
Peter Chmiel, director, Grant Associates, the landscape architects responsible for the landscape masterplanning of Harton Quays Park said:
“We are delighted to see Harton Quays Park receive a ‘Very Good’ CEEQUAL ‘Client and Design Award’. Grant Associates is committed to integrating imagination, design innovation and sustainability into the landscape so it has been rewarding to work with South Tyneside Council who have been dedicated to ensuring that the sustainable aspirations for the park have been met by ensuring the requirement for CEEQUAL accreditation within the brief.
“The park has been designed with the aim of providing additional amenity to the area, to offer a cultural focus and spaces for events and with an emphasis on promoting biodiversity. When completed, Harton Quays Park will form a key piece of the on-going regeneration strategy for the area and create an important re-connection of South Shields town centre to the River Tyne.”
The project areas identified by CEEQUAL where Harton Quays Park team excelled included:
- key public and stakeholder engagement;
- key interest on sustainability;
- public use of the park making it a destination;
- production of a sustainability framework to guide the design;
- development of a reinforced earth design to involve use of recycled demolition materials to reduce the need for supply of quarried aggregates;
- and incorporation of a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) channel to the base of the new ribbon wall to provide amenity and improve water quality.
Councillor Michael Clare, Lead Member Regeneration and Economy at South Tyneside Council, said:
“Harton Quays Park is already proving to be a major success for the Borough. The attraction of industry plaudits is recognition of our partnership working with leading organisations from the building, construction and engineering community. These appointments are ensuring the best quality results will be in place for generations of residents and visitors to enjoy.
“Harton Quays Park is a wonderful way to showcase our business and heritage assets. It will become a key component in unifying the different elements of South Shields riverside. The waterfront park will symbolise the Borough’s vision of regeneration and enhance our future plans.”
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Quotes
"We are delighted to see Harton Quays Park receive a ‘Very Good’ CEEQUAL ‘Client and Design Award’. Grant Associates is committed to integrating imagination, design innovation and sustainability into the landscape so it has been rewarding to work with South Tyneside Council who have been dedicated to ensuring that the sustainable aspirations for the park have been met by ensuring the requirement for CEEQUAL accreditation within the brief. The park has been designed with the aim of providing additional amenity to the area, to offer a cultural focus and spaces for events and with an emphasis on promoting biodiversity. When completed, Harton Quays Park will form a key piece of the on-going regeneration strategy for the area and create an important re-connection of South Shields town centre to the River Tyne." Peter Chmiel, director, Grant Associates
"Harton Quays Park is already proving to be a major success for the Borough. The attraction of industry plaudits is recognition of our partnership working with leading organisations from the building, construction and engineering community. These appointments are ensuring the best quality results will be in place for generations of residents and visitors to enjoy. Harton Quays Park is a wonderful way to showcase our business and heritage assets. It will become a key component in unifying the different elements of South Shields riverside. The waterfront park will symbolise the Borough’s vision of regeneration and enhance our future plans." Councillor Michael Clare, Lead Member Regeneration and Economy at South Tyneside Council
"Mott MacDonald is delighted that the Harton Quays Park has been recognised with this CEEQUAL ‘very good’ award. The consultancy has been involved on the wider South Shields Riverside Regeneration Scheme for over 5 years, advising on sustainable development principles which have become an integral part of the first key phase of public realm works." Simon Longshaw, engineering design team leader, Mott MacDonald
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About Grant Associates
Grant Associates is a pioneering international landscape architecture practice. Our work reconnects people with nature in insightful, delightful and distinctive ways whilst addressing the global challenges of urbanisation, the climate crisis and biodiversity extinction.
Our design process is underpinned by a knowledge of human behaviour, nature and ecological science combined with innovative design technology. We bring original thinking, creative collaboration and are exploring what regenerative design and the circular economy means to landscape architecture.
Our varied portfolio includes ambitious large-scale, landmark projects through to small, local ventures.