South Bucks Country Park
Project Overview
epd are excited to be involved in a new project in South Buckinghamshire. South Bucks District Council is proposing to transform the former 20ha golf course and driving range into a country park and café hub, to be open to the public all year around providing a wide range of recreational facilities. epd have been involved from the outset coordinating and taking the scheme through planning including, master planning, producing a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) and public consultation. We are now undertaking the detailed design producing the works information to get the scheme onsite. As the result of winning a design competition, epd in conjunction with Glendale was awarded the design and implementation of a new Country Park in South Buckinghamshire.
The scheme involves raising the levels on a 20ha golf course through the importation of material and then the master-planning, detailed design and implementation of a country park, including cycle tracks, mountain bike trails, amenity play and sensory spaces, a central amphitheatre and a new cafe (hub building).
epd have been involved from the outset coordinating and taking the scheme through planning including, master planning, producing a Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) and public consultation. Also, epd have worked on this scheme from feasibility through planning, through the tender (technical design) and is currently overseeing landscape works onsite. In addition, epd produced the construction details, the landscape design with input from an ecologist and the Landscape and Ecological Management Plan.
The design concept is inspired by the theme of ‘Time.’ Rows of trees are arranged to represent a clock face, with each species chosen to bloom or display unique characteristics during a specific month, creating a dynamic and ever-changing landscape throughout the year.
In the southeastern end of the site, there are two play areas: one for toddlers and another for children up to and including teenagers. A new hawthorn hedge will be planted around these play areas, creating a large-scale habitat that enhances biodiversity and provides natural beauty.
Project progress
The scheme is currently at the implementation stage and we are contract managing the groundworks, along with the first phase of planting and the digging of the perimeter ditch which will transport all of the rainfall into an attenuation ditch.
We are currently working on a series of conceptual designs for the Welcome Hub area.