{"id":531,"date":"2017-06-20T16:49:32","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T15:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/7dials.hyperlinkmedia.co.uk\/?page_id=531"},"modified":"2023-08-15T03:06:21","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T02:06:21","slug":"greening-and-biodiversity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/streets\/harmonising-the-streets\/greening-and-biodiversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Greening and Biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tree planting was not a feature of late-17th<\/sup> century London and is inappropriate in the narrow streets of Seven Dials, where many vaults, service pipes and cables run beneath the footways. Large trees, when in leaf, can reduce light and obscure the area\u2019s historic features. The existing six trees should be kept well-managed to avoid obscuring the Sundial Pillar and the three lights illuminating the dial faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, trees are now a popular feature in our cities, creating greenery and mitigating carbon emissions. The Seven Dials Trust, with Camden and the Covent Garden Community Association, developed a policy for the area based on tree clusters where there is room, rather than boulevards of street trees. The exception was in Endell Street (planted in 1984) where the street is wide and for which Camden’s officers proposed a very successful mix of varieties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in the area, tree clusters have proved popular and should continue as the norm, always preserving the unique vista to the Sundial Pillar from the each of the seven entry points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Section of plan for tree planting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An overall plan for tree clusters was drawn up following walkabouts throughout the whole Seven Dials Conservation Area. Electromagnetic surveys of services showed the few places where tree clusters are possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tree cluster at the junction of Neal Street, Monmouth Street and Shaftesbury Avenue joins the ‘boulevard’ planting of Shaftesbury Avenue. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1842 ‘Knight’s London\u2019 described Seven Dials as \u2018the hanging gardens of Babylon\u2019<\/em> because of the great proliferation of planting on the wide shopfront flashings (the ledges above the shopfront fascia boards and cornices). Many of these historic shopfronts still exist and this tradition should be encouraged and built upon. The  Seven Dials Trust chose to celebrate the year 2000 with its Millennium Greening Project <\/a>which demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tubs, pots and planters on the footway are not  recommended unless there is room, but can be effective within courts if not on a pedestrian desire line. Narrow, low planters that allow ‘elbow room’ are encouraged to add greening to the parts of the footway adjacent to facades where feet rarely tread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph
No 10 Earlham Street where, during improvement works, the entablature above the shopfront was cleverly extended to carry window boxes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Use of the wide shopfront entablatures has been the traditional form of planting in the area since the mid-19th<\/sup> century. On some of the 19th <\/sup>century warehouses, use is made of the delivery flaps to support container planting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photograph
Endell Street planting was begun in 1984 . This is the only street in the area suitable for ‘boulevard’ style planting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Shaftesbury plc, the area\u2019s largest freeholder, has commendably continued this tradition. They are partners in the Wild West End<\/a> <\/em>project which seeks to enhance biodiversity in the West End of London. Window boxes have been planted with insect-friendly plants and this approach should be extended to rooftop planting where feasible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tree planting was not a feature of late-17th century London and is inappropriate in the narrow streets of Seven Dials, where many vaults, service pipes and cables run beneath the footways. Large trees, when in leaf, can reduce light and obscure the area\u2019s historic features. The existing six trees should be kept well-managed to avoid… View Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":6880,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-531","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8069,"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/531\/revisions\/8069"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sevendials.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}