Everdove Park

Everdove Park – a new Meanwhile space for the Gascoigne community

The story of our park

Following on from the successes of Phoenix Park last year we have been working closely with Greatfields School on a meanwhile park for the eastern part of Gascoigne estate. The park will transform the ‘castle’ play area on Dovehouse Mead that has been unsafe and fenced off for years, reinvigorating it for new use.

At Be First we want to ensure that the conversations about planning and placemaking involve people of all ages and backgrounds. Young people aged 13-24 make up 1 in 7 of our population, one quarter of our society is under 19, and we think it’s really important to involve young adults in the changes that are taking place in their neighbourhood.

Over the course of 16 months, we worked collaboratively with a group of 20 Year 10 students from Greatfields School who learned about design, shared their experiences of living in this area, worked out costs, learnt about circular economy and co-designed a new park to accommodate all residents of Gascoigne to create an inclusive space for all.

Co-creation process

Architects from HTA Design alongside Be First delivered a series of 5 co-design workshops with 20 Year 10 students from March – December last year in a collaborative process that has enabled the students to see their ideas come to life in the illustrative design attached.

Workshops included site visits, ideas generation, an introduction to circular economy (the students have been thinking about what can be repurposed from the demolition process on the estate), design development, costing up plans and finalising priorities to accommodate all residents of Gascoigne to create an inclusive space.

This year we have delivered a further 3 workshops to name the park, design a park sign and create the park sign with the 20 young people. We have run a small campaign within the school and wider Gascoigne community to vote on the name for the new park! And, finally held a series of volunteer days with our contractors Willmott Dixon for staff, residents and students to get involved in painting, planting and helping to transform the park.

The project has been important to us to ensure that young people are part of the changes that are happening in their neighbourhood and to ensure that we are creating spaces that they want to see and be in. During the process the students have provided us with new perspectives on the place where they live, they have been a source of inspiration and ideas to reinvent a space that will be used by all ages in the community.

Wilmott Dixon have committed funds to this through their social values contribution to the borough this is match funded by Be First and Barking & Dagenham council.

The park is now named Everdove Park, this pays due to the location of the park on Dovehouse Mead and a reference to dove houses kept nearby in Tudor times. The dove also symbolises peace and the ‘ever’ refers to everyone, the park is open to all.

Launch Day

Come along to the grand opening of Everdove Park on Saturday 28 May at 10.30am – 1.30pm, a newly refurbished park for the local community to enjoy. The event is set to be filled with a series of fun and exciting activities for the whole family with free food and refreshments!

Address: Dovehouse Mead, Barking, IG11 7DS