Ben Coulter is Head of Sustainability, Regeneration, and Community Partnership at LLDC

Through lockdown and restrictions, the Park’s sustainability story has continued. The Park has afforded its visitors space to breathe and move, enjoying the continuity nature affords.  But it’s a dynamic continuity, and this dynamism is reflected in our recently published Environmental Sustainability Report 2019-2020.

Our report summarises the success of bringing nature back to this part of east London, and the biodiversity which has resulted from careful management of the Park. Its ecosystem is maturing, with flora and fauna to match – including woodpeckers who forage in dead wood. 

Change also means we need to look not just at the Park today, but to consider what the future holds.  This includes preparing for change in the climate; the wildlife; and the built environment.  It also means playing our part in minimising climate change.  We’re committed to delivering the Mayor of London’s vision of a Net Zero Carbon capital by 2030.  The report summarises progress towards our carbon reduction targets, and our work to reduce embodied carbon – the emissions resulting from the materials, products and services that we use.

Transport and mobility is a big part of the Park’s sustainability challenge, and opportunity.  Covid has changed the way we move (and why we move) around the city.  This gives us a chance to rethink where we go and how we get there.  The Park has a reputation as a place of innovation, and the 2020 report reflects on some of the sustainable mobility technology being trialled on the Park  like electric, driverless pods and e-scooters. 

Innovation is at the heart of the Park’s potential, as it was part of its history.  Future technologies can provide cleaner solutions to many of our sustainability challenges, and create opportunity in their design, testing, production and deployment.  The Park is host to an increasing population of academic and commercial organisations, and we continue to work together to deliver a Park which (like the nature its home to) maintains its dynamic continuity, and sustainable development.