CASE STUDY
Partnerships deliver a ‘Wild West End’ How key West End stakeholders are coming together to create more high-quality green spaces
T he principle that organisations can do more as a collective than they can individually underpins the Wild West End (WWE) – a partnership established in 2015 that is the first of its kind globally. The WWE brings its partners together to answer two key questions: How can we work together to improve green space within the West End? And how can we raise awareness about its importance with stakeholders, including occupiers and the general public? Originally consisting of five core West End landowners, WWE has since expanded its membership to seven: The Crown Estate, Grosvenor, GPE, Shaftesbury, The Howard de Walden Estate, Church Commissioners, and The Portman Estate. The Greater London Authority, Westminster City Council, and London Wildlife Trust have also been involved as strategic partners, while Arup and Greengage have served as the partnership’s technical advisers. Most recently, WWE partners worked closely with Greengage to update the Value Matrix, which has been designed to set standards and best practice for green infrastructure in the West End, going above and beyond current urban greening requirements. The WWE’s work reflects a shared interest in improving the urban environment in the West End. “As partners, we all face similar challenges, whether it’s around air quality or the deficit in green space,” explains Bill Eyres, Sustainability Director, Nature Recovery at The Crown Estate. “By collaborating, we
You can do more as a collective than you can individually – challenges we all face are much easier to solve together
roof spaces, or terraces in some properties, rather than the larger area of external walls,” he adds. There is accelerating focus on the importance of increasing access to green spaces in cities due to the wellbeing benefits for people, the biodiversity benefits, and to mitigate climate change impacts like urban heating. Eyres comments that “recent interest in nature recovery and the setting of commitments in this important area have produced a renewed focus within the group, galvanising us to consider where we can have the most impact in the future.” As part of its development of St. James’s Market, The Crown Estate has installed a green wall and is upgrading and maintaining green roof spaces while also adding to the property’s customer terrace gardens. Another major project delivered by The Crown Estate recently was the temporary public realm scheme it developed together with Westminster City Council (WCC) during the COVID-19 pandemic. This comprises more than 5,000 square metres of additional pedestrian space, 300 planters, 60 trees, accessible seating, and cycle lanes. Looking forward, The Crown Estate continues to collaborate with WCC on the ‘Park-to-Park’ project. According to Eyres, this “will create a permanent replacement for the temporary public realm scheme and will create broader value along Regent Street – optimising nature, wellbeing, and climate change resilience while enhancing accessibility, inclusivity, and links across the West End.”
have a better chance of improving the West End as an important area in Central London.” One of the most tangible benefits that partnerships on urban greening can bring is the ability to exchange learnings. This includes shared experience overcoming challenges, such as planning restrictions, but also the sharing of ideas and suppliers that can service heritage buildings rather than new builds. As Eyres puts it: “We are all often on the same journey with the same end goal of more sustainable outcomes, but particularly in the West End, collaboration is absolutely critical to achieve change at scale. We can do more as a collective than we can individually – challenges we all face are much easier to solve together.” Planning rules do set constraints around how you can ‘green’ heritage buildings. “Given the planning policies around listed buildings, and importance of protecting our heritage we have to find the right solutions for installing green or nature- friendly infrastructure,” Eyres explains. “Green walls or building facades, for example, would be considered as changing the structure of these buildings, so we may only be able to enhance internal spaces,
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