London’s Green Corridors Set to Expand
Wild West End, a unique partnership, promoting green space in London’s West End, has today announced that seven Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and partnerships will join, forming a new BID Network, expanding the programme’s reach across central London.
Marking a significant step forward for Wild West End, the new members will work collaboratively with the partnership, continuing to improve the physical and environmental quality of central London, giving people greater access to nature and encouraging wildlife back into the capital. Together, they will identify gaps in central London’s green corridor and target projects that will support improved green space connectivity and opportunities to connect Londoners with nature.
The BIDs and partnerships joining include, Baker Street Quarter Partnership, The Fitzrovia Partnership, Heart of London Business Alliance, Harley Street Medical Area Partnership, Midtown BID, The Northbank BID, Victoria BID, and Victoria Westminster BID.
A partnership between property owners, Wild West End aims to create more green space in London. Since its formation four years ago, Wild West End has successfully installed over 2,500m2 of green space across its buildings, equivalent to ten tennis courts. The partnership’s green space includes over 70 green roofs, 15 green walls, one allotment and hundreds of bee friendly planters.
Global engineering and consultancy firm, Arup, will continue to provide technical guidance to the partnership, monitoring environmental net gain and exploring collaborative opportunities to enhance central London’s green corridors. The strategic direction of Wild West End is informed by London Wildlife Trust and the Greater London Authority, who ensure the direction aligns with the Mayor’s initiatives such as the London Environment Strategy.
Wild West End is also pleased to welcome its seventh partner, the Church Commissioners for England, who own over 2,000 property interests in the Hyde Park Estate including garden squares. The Estate’s rich abundance of gardens and connective street planting will from a critical new link with Hyde Park supporting the partnership’s aim to create a series of ecologically valuable steppingstones between London’s historic Royal Parks and garden squares.
Wild West End updated Partnership Map (June 2020)
Simon Loomes, Director at the Portman Estate, said:
“As a founding member of Wild West End, The Portman Estate welcomes the seven BIDs to join our mission to create a greener city. The shared knowledge between our partners and BIDs will help us understand how to enhance biodiversity and increase air quality in our respective areas. We are already working closely with the Baker Street Quarter Partnership to deliver a new green space for the public at Manchester Square and the expansion of this partnership will further our future greening opportunities in central London.”
Alexander Jan, Chair of Midtown BID, said:
“Midtown BID is delighted to be joining the Wild West End partnership and contributing to the expansion of this transformative initiative across London. The greening of unutilised rooftops and the encouragement of biodiversity in Midtown have been one of our core projects for many years, we very much look forward to developing this work further in collaboration with fellow Business Improvement Districts as part of the BID Network”.
Mark McKeown, Residential Asset Manager for The Church Commissioners for England, said;
“We are delighted to be joining the Wild West End initiative as we have been implementing our own green strategies to improve biodiversity and sustainability across the Hyde Park Estate for over ten years. We look forward to working with the like-minded partners on sharing best practice in measuring these improvements and implementing green corridors across central London.”
Partners:
The Crown Estate
Shaftesbury
The Howard de Walden Estate
Great Portland Estates
The Portman Estate
Grosvenor Britain and Ireland
Church Commissioners for England
Business Improvement Districts:
Baker Street Quarter Partnership
The Fitzrovia Partnership
Heart of London Business Alliance
Harley Street Medical Area Partnership
Midtown BID
The Northbank BID
Victoria BID
Victoria Westminster BID
.