Alkerden Barn Park

Define have been designing a terraced park in Alkerden, the central village in the Eastern Quarry in Ebbsfleet. The design is inspired by Alkerden Barn (formerly manor house!) which is the central building within an historic farm setting.

The proposals seek to restore the old building into a local community asset. In doing this, a new cluster of small contemporary buildings will be developed that provide a variety of dynamic pop up uses suitable for a park. The park will continue to have an agricultural identity and utilising food production will be central to this. There will be dedicated allotments, community orchards and growing areas, a community event space and a wildlife pond. Many of these elements have been chosen by the surrounding community through community engagement

The consultation was organised with the spirit of interactive co-design whereby the local communities of neighbouring Swanscombe and Greenhythe were invited to share memories of the old farm, and talk about facilities they would like to see in the emerging designs.

It was clear that the local residents had many fond memories of the old barn, and retaining it was number one on their agenda. So to protect it in the future we have designed the landscape in such a way that we create a giant bowl. Utilising these rather heroic level changes will create a striking terraced landscape feature, full of play equipment, flowers and orchard trees.

The park also enhances biodiversity, with large swathes of meadow, new woodland, a pond, and a specially formulated planting palette that utilises naturally occurring native understory species alongside important native shrub and tree planting.