Kearsney Abbey
Allen Scott were commissioned to deliver the vision of developing three connected historic parks in the Alkham Valley in Dover. Working together with the community, we were appointed to create a masterplan that balanced the needs of users versus the heritage standards of these historic landscapes, ‘delivering high-quality parks.’
Amongst other objectives, the masterplan also reconnected the designed landscape of Russell Gardens with its focal point and looked to safeguard the integrity of the Dour and Drellingore chalk streams, conserving their ecological, historical and landscape value.
Allen Scott were involved from feasibility through to detailed design and construction. Since their completion in 2021, Kearsney Parks have become key assets for their surrounding communities, with the new play areas particularly loved by younger visitors.
Client: Dover District Council
Role: Lead Consultant + Contract Administrator
Value: £3.1m (capital works)
RIBA Stages: 1-6
Partners: Press & Starkey / Dannatt Johnson Architects
Key Elements: masterplanning / community hub / café / planting design / playground / wetland / restoration of historic structures / interpretation / access improvements
Kearsney Parks is a National Lottery Heritage Fund parks project for the restoration of Russell Gardens, a Grade II Listed registered park and garden designed by Thomas Mawson, and for Kearsney Abbey. Our role involved the restoration of the park’s historic fabric and parkland and the creation of new facilities, including a café and community building, parking facilities and children’s playground.
The proposals in Russell Gardens were based on the findings of the Conservation Management Plan and our own archival research on Thomas Mawson, a leading landscape architect of the Edwardian era and exponent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. This involved large-scale clearance of woodland to reconnect the house with the historic gardens, and the careful restoration of a number of nationally significant set pieces, including reinstatement of the Lily Pond and Bastion Orchard, and restoration of the 160m canal, boat house and Palladian bridge structures.
The project also involved the restoration of the park’s Grade II Listed ruins and boundary walls within Kearsney Abbey, and the reinstatement of a lost bridge to act as a focal and crossing point over the lake weir.
Our role as Lead Consultants involved taking the project through the Development and Delivery stage of NLHF programme; production of the Management and Maintenance Plan; client liaison and coordination of the project team; stakeholder and public consultation; obtaining consents; and overseeing the restoration and construction work on site. Additionally our work also involved detailed condition surveys and working with specialist stonemasons on the specification and repair of the park’s listed masonry structures.