London’s historic Victoria Park has been restored to its former splendor following the completion of a £12 million, 16 month renovation project.
The project, funded by Tower Hamlets Council and The Heritage Lottery Fund was carried out by family-owned construction, civil engineering and property services firm Osborne, which involved full renovation of the park’s facilities and grounds.
Work on the park included the construction of two large play areas with play equipment, water play features, and a Wheels Park for skateboarding and bikes as well as restoration on the Old English Garden and other landscaping work.
Additional work included restoring the listed Burdett Coutts Fountain; the Rustic Shelter; the Bandstand; and all entrances and gates and Bonner Bridge. Many of the Bonner Bridge balustrades had to be replaced, and were cast from the original panels. More than one third of the materials and labour for this project came from within a 10 mile radius of the site.
The park remained open throughout the renovation work, so the site team worked around staff, residents and the local wildlife, scheduling work around nesting season for the birds and working with English Heritage to obtain approvals for refurbishing listed structures.
Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said: “The refurbishment was a once in a life-time opportunity to bring a much loved park up to date and the multi million pound transformation will ensure the park continues to provide excellent facilities for years to come.
I am proud of the investment which has been made as it really is the jewel in the crown for the borough.”
Tommy Chambers, Managing Director of Osborne’s Civil Engineering team, said: “The whole community have joined us in refurbishing this magnificent park, with residents getting involved in planting, and some local school children painting murals to go on our hoardings while the work was taking place.
"With the park remaining open throughout the renovation works, we made communication with residents and staff a key priority, so they knew what was going on and why.
"This park has been a key feature of the local landscape and in the lives of its residents since 1845, and these renovations have been designed to improve the experience for visitors while complimenting the park’s Victorian heritage.”
