Forest Lane Park

Forest Lane Park is a local public greenspace in the Forest Gate area of the London Borough of Newham. In the 19^th century, the park formed the grounds of the Forest Gate ‘Industrial School’ – a workhouse for orphaned and abandoned children from East London. Following the closure of the workhouse, the Industrial School was converted into a maternity hospital within which local social activist Lucel Tate worked as a midwife.

The London Borough of Newham commissioned Arkwood to develop a funding application to the NLHF for resources to conserve and upgrade the park. Arkwood prepared and submitted the funding application, culminating an award of £900,00. An Arkwood-led team has been appointed to develop and deliver a £1.5 million project.

Client and Contract Period

London Borough of Newham

2023-2027

Project Objectives

The objective of the project is to conserve Forest Lane Park and to record its fascinating history. The project includes commissioning a replacement for the ‘Guardian’ sculpture that once stood in the park, celebrating the life of Lucel Tate. The project is also focussing on working intensively with local residents and users to ensure that the project addresses their needs and aspirations. To support these objectives, Arkwood has completed a Conservation Plan for the site and developed an Activity Plan that will provide opportunities for local resident to learn about heritage and to acquire new skills through volunteering. The final outcomes will be a rejuvenated greenspace that will more fully address the needs of local residents

Issues, Challenges, and Outcomes

Forest Lane Park is a small but important local greenspace that is highly valued by local residents and regular users but is hidden-away for the purposes of public use, despite being close to the centre of Forest Gate. Improving accessibility and penetrability is thus a critical objective for the project.

The park has suffered from a lack of investment over the past twenty years and the condition of its infrastructure has deteriorated, creating an atmosphere of neglect. This in turn has fostered anti-social behaviour which is acting as a disincentive to users, leading to a spiral of decline.

By working closely with the local community and through carefully curated co-design processes, we have been able to foster a positive attitude to the project amongst stakeholders. By focusing the project on improving accessibility, fixing broken infrastructure and celebrating local heritage, we can deliver a project that can transform the quality of the space and the services that it delivers to local people.

Services