In 2024 Create Streets helped the Chiswick Flower Market run a community consultation on how to improve the public realm along Chiswick High Road using our Create Communities platform. It’s not often that plans go from the drawing board to reality within a year but earlier this month, Ginkgo Corner did indeed open to the public. A small but delightful new spot to sit and enjoy the sun and nature in Chiswick. Directors David Milner and Eleanor Broad went along to support the launch. Karen Liebreich (Chiswick Flower Market) whom we have worked with on a number of projects tells the tale of Ginkgo Corner.
Nearly five years ago, in September 2020, a group of local residents launched the Chiswick Flower Market, on the first Sunday of each month. The aim was to revitalise our High Street and refurbish the central area of Chiswick. The crumbling 1970s car park would become a vibrant new destination. Additional specialist markets soon joined us – cheese, antiques and vintage, and street food on subsequent Sundays. Chiswick began to attract residents and visitors to visit the markets and the surrounding shops, cafes and restaurants.
Once the Flower Market was stable and bringing in monthly revenue, mainly from stall rentals, we turned our attention to improving the infrastructure. The low retaining walls of the Old Market Place, aka Ye Olde Car Park, were collapsing, the parking surface regularly flooded, there was lots of redundant street furniture, the existing flower beds were empty of all but weeds and a few struggling shrubs. We commissioned a landscape architect, Luke Greysmith (LGLA Projects), whose previous work chimed with our aims, to draw up a master plan.
The aim was to transform the space from an underused and dilapidated car park, and provide a multi-purpose and green centre for Chiswick, the easternmost corner of the London Borough of Hounslow, that would serve a wide variety of people and uses, as well as promoting biodiversity, Sustainable Urban Drainage (SUDs) and … well, just beauty.
There was predictable opposition from the diehard car lobby who claimed the area had been a car park since the dawn of time. In order to refute the naysayers and add some much-needed factual content we not only investigated the history of the area, but also commissioned an independent parking survey of the whole of central Chiswick, jointly and equally paid for by the Flower Market, the council and a local developer, Birchgrove, who was planning a large sheltered housing facility for the elderly in Old Market Place. The historical record revealed that the area had served the village community in a variety of ways since at least the nineteenth century, well before cars were invented. The survey, conducted at 15 minute intervals over a period of two weeks, revealed that the car park was never completely full and that, of the 186 parking places available in central Chiswick, over 40 spaces were always available within a short walk of Old Market Place.
Create Streets helped us to set up an online “co-design platform” using their Create Communities market research tool where residents were invited to submit improvements, suggestions and criticisms on our draft designs. Significant changes were made as a result.
At that point, coincidentally, the council was seeking to develop eligible projects for the United Kingdom Shared Prosperity Fund, the ‘Leveling Up’ funding offered by the (previous) central government. London Borough of Hounslow had received a dollop, which was to be split between its various town centres. At very short notice we were asked if we could submit a proposal that would create or improve a green/blue part of our High Road. After initially recoiling, we suddenly realized that we could peel off one small part of our overall Old Market Place design which could fit the funding brief. Rather than refurbishing the whole of central Chiswick in one go (for which we had no funding, nor any realistic short-term prospect of raising it), this could transform a dilapidated corner and serve as a proof of concept for the wider refurbishment of Old Market Place.
We would take an uninspiring raised bed filled with ground cover, dead leaves and street rubbish, remove a few etiolated cordylines and transform the space around an existing ginkgo tree, creating a much-needed seating area and adding several flower beds planted up with pollinator-friendly plants. The existing tree had to be protected, and the levels were tricky so one parking bay would have to be removed to ensure disabled/buggy access. A permeable-surfaced path would be carefully built leading up to two specially commissioned curvy benches.
The council contractors, Hounslow Highways, estimated the cost of the project at £45,000, nicely within the budget of the leveling up grant plus a generous contribution from the Flower Market. The funding came with a tight deadline so we felt pressured to hurry before we lost the money. Most of this would come from the UKSPF funding, with an important financial and volunteer time contribution from the Flower Market.
First we had to go through the process of removing one parking bay. The council initially said we would have to pay £750 to initiate this process. Later this was revised up to an outrageous £2,500. We also hit some other obstacles. Predictably two of the three ward councilors objected on the grounds that the project formed part of the great ‘War on Motorists’; one councillor claimed to be supportive but only if the parking bay was retained, which would have left the area inaccessible for disabled people. The third councillor stood firmly in support. More surprisingly, one of the other markets objected to losing space for a stall, even though since the beginning we had always said that the markets were created to green up and refurbish the area. Many negative things were said about how no-one would ever want to sit on the benches, the sun would never shine on them, the wind would howl past, taxpayers’ money should not be wasted on such frivolity, other (non-specified) designs would be far better… Nevertheless, after six months we won the Battle of the Bay.
Then the council decided that, despite overwhelming approval of the proposal in the Create Streets co-design survey, the council should hold its own consultation. This was understandable but frustrating as it created a further delay of a few months. The overwhelming 91% approval rate from a good response of several hundred to their survey, despite a call to arms on various hostile Facebook groups, was reassuring to them.
The next setback occurred when Hounslow Highways finally did a detailed costing of our plans, only to announce that the £45,000 estimate was actually over £100,000. However, a line by line discussion of each item, along with a generous in-kind contribution from Hounslow Highways itself, as they were also keen to achieve the project, brought costs down again to a more manageable £75,000. A ridiculous proportion of the cost went on the two custom-made curvy benches from Woodscape, but we felt that as these were basically works of art, and not just places to park backsides, this was justified and would lift the design from the mundane. Also, they were hard wearing and required no maintenance.
The first weeks of the construction were frustrating. Perhaps behind the scenes things were happening, but the six-week estimated build dragged on.
Week 1: Portable loos and diggers arrived.
Week 2: Builders threatened the ginkgo tree roots, fiery emails were exchanged. Some bricks (the wrong ones) arrived.
Week 3: Three small walls and four steps were built. One wall was in the wrong place, the steps were the wrong height.
Weeks 4 & 5: Awaiting edging for the path.
Weeks 6 & 7: Rain.
Week 8: A new team arrived. Edging and kerbs were installed. The brickies fixed the wall and steps. Permeable surfacing went on. The benches arrived. The workers finally understood the project and suddenly seemed proud of their work. Passersby made positive comments.
Week 9: An especially pretty tree – a flowering dogwood ‘Butterfly’ was planted by the representatives from the Flower Market team and Hounslow Highways, along with the designer, amidst much discussion about tree staking methodology.
Week 10: Volunteers and Hounslow Highways gardeners planted up the beds.
Sunday 6th April: Arit Anderson and Nicki Chapman, presenters of BBC Gardeners’ World and the Chelsea Flower Show respectively, and both local residents and long-time supporters of the Chiswick Flower Market, popped in the last plant to much fanfare, and launched Ginkgo Corner at the spring Flower Market. Ginkgo leaf-shaped cookies, and ginkgo-infused prosecco and orange juice was served. Someone donated a huge chocolate birthday cake. The public came, the leader of the council came, the local councillors and MP came. The sun shone, the Flower Market broke previous records. People sat on the benches in the sun, and suddenly all the hassle seemed worthwhile.
Morals of the tale/advice for others: Have a vision. Have a good team. Be persistent. Build a shared vision with the council. Don’t give up. Have a good designer. Find the money. Be persistent. Fight the naysayers. Be persistent. Go for it.
Karen Liebreich
Chiswick Flower Market
