Grey to Green

A team day in Sheffield: Exploring green and blue infrastructure

In August, the EDLA team visited Sheffield to explore how landscape design is helping to shape a greener, more resilient city.

Getting out on site is an important part of what we do as landscape architects. It’s an opportunity to look beyond the drawings, see how spaces perform in practice and share ideas about what makes successful places.

A key focus of the day was how green and blue infrastructure could and should be an integral part of the urban environment, rather than an afterthought. Sheffield has a variety of city centre projects that have placed this concept at the heart of the design, including the award-winning Grey to Green scheme. Rain gardens, diverse planting and innovative sustainable drainage practices have transformed former car dominated highways into a high-profile national SUDS precedent.

However, it was the emerging Castlegate Riverside scheme which really caught the eye. The scheme will transform a once-hidden part of Sheffield’s history into a valuable new city-centre park. By uncovering the previously culverted River Sheaf and revealing archaeological remains associated with Sheffield Castle, the project reconnects the city with its historic waterways and heritage. The landscape will create an accessible, nature-rich public space while incorporating floodwater storage, demonstrating how urban regeneration can deliver multiple benefits for people, biodiversity and climate resilience. It will be great to return in the future to see how it is establishing once complete!

Our whistle-stop tour also took in a number of other recent developments, including the people-first approach to residential placemaking in Kelham Island, the new Pound’s Park play space in the heart of the city and the regeneration of the streetscapes along Fargate and The Moor. Sheffield offered some great examples of how landscape design and green infrastructure can work together to enhance biodiversity, build climate resilience and create more attractive, liveable urban environments.

Overall, it was a valuable day of discussion, inspiration and fresh perspectives (with a good lunch stop along the way, of course!).