Crystal Palace Park
Crystal Palace Park is an historic treasure in the heart of South London.
Our vision for Crystal Palace Park is for a revived metropolitan park of the twenty-first century.
The famous park was designed originally by the celebrated Joseph Paxton to house his much-acclaimed Crystal Palace following its removal from its 1851 Great Exhibition site in Hyde Park.
It was widely considered to be the world's first theme park featuring a Victorian dinosaur park - designed in conjunction with the father of palaeontology Richard Owen.
Crystal Palace Park Masterplan
The London Development Agency (LDA) has created a Crystal Palace Park Masterplan to ensure the Park has a vibrant and sustainable future.
It is a blueprint that would return the park to being one of the most spectacular green spaces in Europe and was drawn up after an extensive period of consultation and debate with the local community.
The Masterplan proposes to create five new gateways into the park improving access and facilities and would release more than 40 acres of land to full public access as a Park, with over 600 new trees planted.
It includes a tree top walkway, an aquarium, tropical glasshouses and a tree canopy mimicking the silhouette of the old Palace. The concert bowl will be renovated, along with the reconstruction of the former cricket pitch (and a new pavilion), sunken gardens along the terraces, and the restoration of one of the famous Paxton fountains.
The Masterplan was developed by the LDA's Design for London with award winning architects Latz + Partner. It has been endorsed by English Heritage as a National Exemplar of "Constructive Conservation".
Housing
The Masterplan includes proposals for some housing development that would contribute to the financial sustainability of the scheme.
This new housing is limited to two sites - both of which have previously been built on. Both sites lie on the edge of the park, where they will help frame the gateways to the Park.
London Borough of Bromley gives its approval
The Masterplan has been given outline planning permission by the London Borough of Bromley's Development Control Committee. London Borough of Bromley's announcement.
National Sports Centre renovation
The London Development Agency is currently spending around £14 million on major refurbishment work to the National Sports Centre in the middle of the Park.
These works include:
- lengthening the pool to meet current international standards
- upgrading all changing rooms, exercise studios and arena
- the total re-plumbing and re-wiring of the building
- the renewal or refurbishment of the entire heating, power and pool filtration plant
- replacing thermal and acoustic insulation material throughout the building
- repairing roof joints and windows
- renewing the lighting and fire-alarm systems.
The National Sports Centre is expected to fully re-open in April 2009.
The Mayor of London and the London Development Agency took control (from Sport England) of the National Sports Centre in the park as part of London's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.
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