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Abbotts Lane Linear Park

West Midlands Combined Authority
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West Midlands Combined Authority | 2022 - 2022 | Coventry

Award-winning linear park connects Coventry communities

Linear park connecting Coventry communities:

Urban regeneration and making the most of our shared spaces is a key part of Idverde’s work. The Abbotts Lane Linear Park is a fantastic example of how nature-based landscape solutions can benefit residents, workers and visitors. 

700 metres of nature reimagined

Creating a 700-metre linear park in the heart of Coventry has brought a brook back to life, added more than a thousand trees to the landscape and created a nature-based area for local communities. 

The Linear Park is part of a wider redevelopment of the Abbotts Lane area of Coventry, which is being transformed from an industrial site into residential housing. The park starts at Belgrade Plaza in the city centre, passes under the ring road and finishes in the north of the city, providing additional green space for the communities in the north of the city.  

Partnerships that deliver

We worked as part of a creation team, partnering with regeneration specialists Complex Development Projects and landscape architects Barton Wilmore. Together, we created the Linear Park over a period of 12 months, completing in the Spring of 2022, just as Coventry’s tenure as City of Culture came to an end. The park is part of the event’s legacy phase, focused on a greener future for Coventry. 

Spaces for people, habitats for wildlife

In line with our commitment to protect and improve habitats, the Linear Park includes a wide range of regenerative work that takes both people and wildlife into account. In addition to planting mature trees, giving instant additional nesting and food for birds and other wildlife, we also created a range of habitat features including bird and bat boxes, stag beetle loggeries and hedgehog houses.  

And with the naturalisation of Naul’s Mill pond as part of the design, we created a new wetland area which will support a wide variety of species, supported by planting more than 23,000 shrubs and creating a native wildflower meadow. 

For the community, the Linear Park has pedestrian and cycle routes into the city centre and features a safe playground and climbing wall area, along with an amphitheatre and other open spaces.   

National award winner

The Abbotts Lane Linear Park won a BALI National Landscape Award in 2022 – the largest landscaping awards in Europe. It joins a prestigious list of landscape projects and won high praise from the visiting judges. 

“The Abbotts Lane Linear Park is a great example of how modern urban regeneration can make a huge difference to the surrounding community. It is a thoughtful use of derelict ground and the spark of an idea from a local resident has led to a transformation of the space in a relatively short space of time."
"The liaison and consultation with the wider community was evident in the design response and the word ‘safe’ was used numerous times to describe how people felt about this new link through to the centre of Coventry.” BALI Awards judge. "