12/05/2026
London Pleasure Gardens, 2012.
Commissioned by and Newham Council as part of the Cultural Olympiad, we were tasked with transforming 8 acres of abandoned Royal Docks land into a festival site — in just 6 months. Yet the bigger challenge was that the entire site was asbestos-contaminated rubble, untouched since 1981.
While most parts of the site had to be capped for safety for festival use, one acre had become something extraordinary: a wild ecosystem reclaimed by nature over 30 years. Through phytostabilisation, self-seeded plants and trees had locked the contaminated ground safely in place, creating the ideal habitat for invertebrates and birds amongst the docklands’ brackish waters and the sheltered ruins of Millennium Mills.
We preserved it to create an urban nature reserve within the festival itself. With we introduced winding aggregate paths framed by chestnut paling and seeded either side by seed mixes, as colourful way finders. We dotted sand “termite mounds” throughout the reserves planted with prolific self-seeding species from around the world referenced the docklands’ long history as part of the global exchange of plants.
We also relocated the iconic DMZ Forbidden Garden by Korean artist from — a project reflecting nature reclaiming the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea — alongside sculptural benches commissioned by .
But after just one event, financial collapse and reactionary press led Newham to shut the site indefinitely.
For over a decade, the reserve evolved unseen, visible only through satellite images on Google Maps. Last year, the land was finally cleared for housing — and with it disappeared one of London’s most astonishing accidental ecosystems.
