Duncan Terrace, Islington, London

Tim O’Hare Associates was involved at a number of crucial stages during the renovation of this urban green space located in the London Borough of Islington. The landscape scheme mainly compromised large numbers of woodland margin plants and a raised lawn that was expected to receive intensive use.

At the early design stage (Stage C), the practice was commissioned to carry out a Soil Resource Survey for the site, looking at both horticultural quality and ground contamination levels. This assessment found soils with no significant contamination and good horticultural composition for tree and shrub planting – so much so that the requirements for additional soil ameliorants were minimal. However, the site soils possessed inappropriate properties for the proposed lawn area, where the levels of foot-trafficking were anticipated to be high. The survey also revealed several areas with severe compaction problems that would need to be addressed.

During design stages D and E, a Soil Management Plan was developed for the site, which included appropriate cultivation techniques to decompact the soil without harming existing trees, tree pit details, and specifications for the turf, the specialist rootzone and drainage media for the raised lawn.

During construction (Stage K), a site inspection role was undertaken to monitor the main soil-related operations on the site to ensure compliance with the landscape specification. This covered:

• Subsoil decompaction;
• Topsoil cultivations;
• Tree pit construction and backfilling;
• Sourcing and testing of imported rootzone;
• Turf establishment;
• Practical Completion;