Establishing a new destination for West London
Ealing Regional Park
London, UK
In 1902 the Borough Surveyor, Charles Jones, described Ealing as the Queen of the Suburbs due to its many positive features including the wide open, tree lined streets and green open spaces. Over 120 years later, the population has grown substantially, making it the third largest Borough in London. It is also richly diverse, characterised by a mix of inner city and suburban neighbourhoods, people from over 100 countries, speaking over 170 different languages, from all ethnicities and religions, and experiencing great affluence as well as deprivation.
With the population expected to rise, access to open space is becoming an increasingly prevalent problem for Ealing, as are significant health inequalities alongside the challenges presented by climate change. The creation of a new regional park could serve as a vital approach to addressing these issues whilst also establishing a new destination for Ealing and wider West London.
Prior + Partners were appointed as lead consultant, masterplanners and planners to lead this vision, collaborating closely with landscape architect Gillespies and a wider subconsultant team, as well as in partnership with Ealing Council, local and regional stakeholders, and the community. Together, we’ve brought forward a 500-hectare proposal which navigates across scales, balancing the wider strategic potential of a new regional park alongside smaller, tangible benefits that together could positively impact the lives of close to 200,000 people.
Defining the area of opportunity
Ealing Regional Park, as it stands today, takes shape primarily along the River Brent River corridor. This area offers a unique opportunity to envision a long-term transformation: a sprawling park that transcends borough boundaries, connecting Ealing with its neighbours—Hounslow, Brent, and Barnet—through a continuous greenway along the river. This vision also extends westward, forging green links into Hillingdon, creating an interconnected network of natural spaces.
Spatial Principles
Four key spatial principles underpin the park’s design, reflecting our goal to create a cohesive, accessible, inclusive, resilient, and vibrant regional park:
• Connecting communities to enhance access and inclusivity;
• Overcoming barriers to create seamless movement and integration;
• Fostering natural resilience to support biodiversity and sustainability; and
• Bringing the park to life by creating vibrant spaces that celebrate culture, leisure, and community.
Connected and active uses
The new regional park will feature an array of complementary spaces that are linked and connect both people – via a new, a pedestrian and cycle connection that runs the length of the park – and ecology, by natural corridors and landscape. This vision includes spaces for sports, play and cultural experiences, creating a park that caters to a diverse range of interests and activities.
Biodiversity
Through close working with our subconsultants, we’ve ensured the proposals maximise the opportunity to enhance local ecology and biodiversity, with a series of interventions proposed including the creation of wildflower and wetland meadows, artificial wetlands, brownfield open mosaic habitats, enhanced existing woodlands, new green corridors, green bridges, nature-watching huts, and bat roost lofts. These changes will not only enhance natural habitats, supporting biodiversity but also aim to bring about essential benefits like cleaner air and water, carbon sequestration, and flood resilience.
A catalyst for change
The creation of a regional park presents an exciting opportunity to transform Ealing, and West London, into a more connected and flourishing community, whilst simultaneously address environmental challenges and act as a catalyst of locally driven economic renewal.
The development of the park is progressing toward a phase of refinement and implementation. The next steps involve further detailing and optimising the spatial strategies, supported by comprehensive feasibility assessments, business planning, and management frameworks.
Sustained engagement and collaboration with communities and stakeholders will remain integral to defining and finalizing the park’s proposals, ensuring a well-informed and inclusive approach to this transformative project.
