If you’ve been to Roehampton Gate recently, you may have noticed the digging. A short section of Richmond Park’s Tamsin Trail has disappeared behind hoardings. Here’s what’s happening.
Work has started on the long-planned replacement for the temporary café at Roehampton Gate in Richmond Park. The first task is installing a new electricity sub-station to supply the proposed café, public toilets, and cycle hire buildings. The Trail closure is temporary and will lift once the electrical works are done.
The Royal Parks received planning permission for the project last April (application 24/1985/FUL). The replacement building, designed by David Morley Architects, will consist of two timber-clad structures linked by a curved canopy with a green roof, intended to sit quietly within the landscape rather than dominate it. Visualisations of the proposed buildings were produced by land use consultancy LUC as part of the planning process. The scheme will also improve the surrounding park area to increase biodiversity, and includes a new pedestrian gate from the Alton Estate.
The original café was a cricket-pavilion style building until it burned down in 2004. The “temporary” structure put up in its place has served Tamsin Trail regulars ever since. It has, in the understated words of the Friends of Richmond Park, lasted considerably longer than expected.
The project is called Roehampton Restored and is managed by The Royal Parks in partnership with Friends of Richmond Park. There is, as the Friends note, “a lot of work to be done”, and no opening date has been set. But after two decades of the temporary, it is good to see machinery on site.
For updates on the project, see the Royal Parks website at royalparks.org.uk or the Friends of Richmond Park at frp.org.uk.
