Pedestrianised precinct with play equipment

The existing brick planters with
over mature planting

(For Woodley Town Council)

We were asked to reappraise the shopping precinct in Woodley town centre near Reading on behalf of the town council and the town centre management initiative with the support of local businesses such as Waitrose.

We were invited to design an attractive and robust water feature to replace a brick planter in the centre of the shopping precinct following consultations with local residents and shop managers. We presented two options and the design shown below was preferred. This design incorporates a feature know as the ‘Ghandi stone’ which includes an inscription attributed to Mahatma Ghandi and traverse water arches and bubble jets set on a ‘pyramid’ of stone with the original brick planter faced with high quality limestone. The local Miles Hawk aircraft heritage is also remembered in a plaque set in the feature.

The drawing proposals for the new water feature in plan and section

The former site with the old Staines
West Station in the background

The new improved setting

Retaining wall section by riverside path

(For Spelthorne Borough Council)

Pound Mill is located in the town centre of Staines and the site has an interesting history. The main building is Georgian and was purchased by the Great Western Railways for a new station known as Staines West. The site sites by the Wraysbury River and a mustard grinding mill (Pound Mill) was also located here at the turn of the 19th century. The mustard mill has been replaced by a new shopping complex and the station building has been converted into an office and a community facility following the closure of this line in the 1960’s.

We were asked to design a recreational space on the site of an existing car park in front of the building. Our design features high quality yorkstone paving, new seating and a grassed space where a sculpture of a millstone is proposed to interpret the former mustard mill along with robust knee rails, planting and signage appropriate to a town centre site.

The scheme is currently has now been satisfactorily completed and will shortly feature a sculpture associated with the former mills in the area.

Site proposals general arrangement plan