Queensland Court & Gardens, Cardonald
Award type: Full Award (subject to post-construction sign off)
Award date: 25 May 2021
Location: Cardonald, Glasgow
Project Type: Regeneration
Applicant: Southside Housing Association & Glasgow City Council
BwN Assessor: RaeburnFarquharBowen
Key Stakeholders: NatureScot, Sweco, Green Action Trust, local residents, EB Scotland, National Lottery Community Fund, City Deal, Scottish Government, Garfield Weston Foundation, RaeburnFarquharBowen
This case study demonstrates best practice in retrofitting the green infrastructure in an urban setting. Winner of the 2021 Landscape Institute Building with Nature Award, the scheme is an excellent example of how a partnership approach, involving the community, can provide multi-functional green infrastructure that delivers natural assets for people in deprived areas, providing amenity, flood management and greater biodiversity.
Queensland Court and Gardens is a scheme to retrofit the green infrastructure surrounding two existing apartment blocks, providing 228 homes on land located within Cardonald in Glasgow with ‘nature on the doorstep’. The site lies within the most deprived 10% of areas in Scotland according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020. It is geographically bound by a railway and dual carriageway enclosing the development to the north and east. Despite these constraints, the retrofitting showcases an exemplar study of an urban green infrastructure site. The project was successful due to the partnership between Southside Housing Association, (the owners and managers of the tower blocks), and Glasgow City Council.
Overall, the project aims to create a green infrastructure asset by integrating new features to manage the flood risk for the wider Cardonald and Hillington catchment. The design enhances the underused open space that is often flooded and unusable by integrating SuDS features, encouraging low carbon behaviours, and implementing areas for community engagement with nature.
As well as its Full Award, Queensland Court achieved the Building with Nature National Award for 2021, presented at the Landscape Institutes Awards in November 2021.
