In addition to the new Devonport House, the proposals include significant landscape improvements to the campus.

Improving Access for all

Accessibility for everyone around the campus and World Heritage Site will be improved as a result of the Devonport House Project in a number of ways. They include:

Opening up of currently closed or restricted entrances to Devonport House lawn for the general public and university to use.

Improving signage and opening up previously underused paths, so that the public can learn more about the World Heritage Site as they walk through it, and creation of dedicated entrances including a student entrance off Romney Road leading to the eastern end of Devonport House. 

Improving connections between the town centre and other historic university buildings.

Enhancements to Landscape

Key Landscape Features (click image to enlarge)

The landscape enhancements for Devonport House will create a series of external spaces to benefit the local community, students and visitors alike. The proposals introduce a sensitive and beautiful landscape to complement and provide a backdrop for the surrounding listed buildings. Views are enhanced and framed by new focal points, contributing and strengthening the historic setting. Signage and wayfinding will be improved across the site, with links to the National Maritime Museum.

New landscape spaces will be created, which respond to building use and movement. Localised enhancements to the front gardens to Devonport House will introduce a more biodiverse landscape.

Two proposed squares will create welcoming and dynamic spaces for students and the local community to enjoy. Away from these squares, green pockets with seating nooks offer a calm and serene environment.

Soft landscape will look to create green corridors to link to surroundings, to introduce wildlife refuge and connections to Greenwich Park to the south.

Green Pockets

The design and layout of the green pockets have been carefully considered to provide a relationship with the architectural elevations.

Seating nooks are placed where there are no windows and create moments of relief and a place to pause.

Lush planting provide a green outlook from teaching spaces and help to provide privacy within classrooms.

An ecologically rich border to the National Maritime Museum line the space to the south.

Trees provide vertical interest and structure, helping to signpost seating areas and provide natural wayfinding.

A variety of seating opportunities cater for a range of users and abilities.

The green pockets offer a calm and serene environment away from the busy surrounding streets.

Soft Landscape

The soft landscape proposals will focus on providing a rich, green and biodiverse landscape. The planting palette will be developed to be robust and low maintenance to ensure it thrives and looks good all year around.

All planting across the site will be selected to offer year-round structure and cover, seasonal interest, nectar rich flowering perennials as well as variation in height and texture.

Biodiverse Raingardens

Grasses, Structural Shrubs & Perennials

Native Planting for Wildlife

Native Hedgerow

Climate tolerant and resilient planting

Native shrubs with flowers and berries

Structure & colour in winter

Shrubs offering food for wildlife

Meadow Rims

Ecological and low maintenance

Colourful

Shade tolerant

Woodland Planting

Ferns, Grasses & Perennials

Feature Planting

Structural Grasses & Perennials

Layered woodland planting

Textures & movement

Lush green ferns and pockets of seasonal colour

Seasonal colour & Interest

A summary of landscape proposals and illustrative CGIs showing how the landscape will come together can be found below.

  • Creation of a series of landscape spaces including better links and connections through the site, and peaceful green spaces for everyone to enjoy

  • Use of materials and surfaces that complement existing listed buildings and the setting within the World Heritage Site

  • Generous areas of new trees and planting. All planting will be biodiverse and seasonal, offering a mix of native species and plants that are resilient to climate change

  • Prioritisation of pedestrians and keeping vehicles out of main spaces

  • Landscape improvements to the front gardens of Devonport House include additional soft landscape, resurfacing of paths, additional signage and art to make the space more functional, inviting and sustainable for the university and community

Illustrative images of the proposed landscape enhancements

Respecting and Enhancing the World Heritage Site

Through our Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Scoping Report, the effects of the Devonport House Project on the range of heritage assets within this area of Greenwich, are considered not to be significant.

However, due to the location of the Devonport House Project within the Greenwich Maritime World Heritage Site and its high value and high sensitivity, the addition of any new building has the potential to have a large effect on the heritage significance of the World Heritage Site (WHS). There is also an opportunity to improve the WHS through delivery of a new Devonport House that complements the surrounding area, most notably the neglected parts of the WHS. A top design priority is to respect and complement existing built heritage to integrate comfortably within the WHS. We have dedicated heritage architects and heritage planning team members investigating how best to do this in collaboration with RBG, Historic England/ Greater London Archaeology Advisory Service (GLAAS) through extensive survey work, ongoing design and views testing, and exploration of mitigation approaches. Full detail of how this heritage context will be responded to will be detailed in the Environmental Statement, as well as supporting Heritage Impact Assessment, to be submitted with the planning application.