The Urban Nature Project is a nationwide drive to start a new urban nature movement. With some 80% of people in the UK living in urban areas, a new national learning programme is also encouraging children to get outside and engage with the nature on their doorstep.
The launchpad for the project will be the redevelopment of the Museum’s South Kensington gardens into a welcoming, accessible, and biologically diverse green space.
As part of the Museum’s five-acre garden redevelopment programme, Walter Lilly have been appointed as the main contractor to carry out the work to the two principal gardens: the Evolution Garden and the Nature Discovery Garden.
Evolution Garden
The Evolution Garden will tell the story of life on Earth. It will include fossils, plants and a geological timeline wall, representing the various geological eras.
As improved Museum accessibility is also a significant part of this project, we will build ramps from the South Kensington tube station tunnel into the garden, and to the main Museum entrance.
Amongst the plants will be a snapshot of some of the life that lived during those periods, including a weather-proof Hypsilophodon and a towering Diplodocus.
Nature Discovery Garden
The Nature Discovery Garden will encourage visitors to connect with nature whilst thinking about the future of our planet.
Key features will include:
Additional building construction
Sustainability
Creating a sustainable design that works with the landscape is at the heart of this redevelopment. With an ambitious approach to sustainable construction, the project aims to have a positive impact on the environment. The project aims to:
Deliver a project which removes more carbon from the atmosphere than it contributes.
CGI Credit: The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London, Feilden Fowles and J & L Gibbons
South Kensington
Natural History Museum
Project Manager: Mace
Architect: Feilden Fowles
Landscape Architect: J&L Gibbons
Quantity surveyor: Mace
Sustainability: Mace
Heritage consultant: Purcell
Structural engineer: engineersHRW
M&E Services: Max Fordham