Output details

The Seven Lochs Wetland Park - Masterplan and Visioning Study

The Seven Lochs Wetland Park is an award winning Masterplan and Visioning Study carried out by Collective Architecture for the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership. Funded by INTERREG IVC through the European Regional Development Fund, the study is part of SIGMA for Water which involves 11 projects within 8 European Union countries, undertaken between 2010 and 2013. The proposed park is located within Gartloch and Gartcosh, an area of approximately twenty square kilometres between the east end of Glasgow and Coatbridge. Significant natural and cultural heritage assets are located in the park which offer up great opportunities for health and well being. However, the communities surrounding the park's edges have been identified as suffering from multiple deprivation. Glasgow City Council and North Lanarkshire Council have sought to regenerate these communities through growth and inward investment, with a particular emphasis on housing and community growth. At the same time, the councils have recognised the need to protect and enhance these unique and threatened habitats as part of the regeneration process. Collective Architecture’s remit was to form a single vision for the area as a wetland park, protecting and enhancing the existing heritage and natural heritage, whilst considering the area as a whole in terms of its hydrological and recreational importance. Integrating development from the out set would help to ensure the success and viability of the park, which is to be funded by developer contributions. If housing is to be built on land identified for community growth, principles can be developed to ensure integrated design is achieved, without additional development costs. How can endangered species and landscape be protected, by the formation of a wetland park of international significance, whose very creation is reliant on developer contributions from the construction of new housing within the curtilage of the park?