Railway Gardens

The Railway Gardens project transforms a remnant piece of land alongside the railway in Splott, Cardiff, into a creative community green space for CIC, Green Squirrel.

Our clients Green Squirrel are a Community Interest Company (CIC) creating opportunities for greener living, based in Cardiff. Their vision was to transform the disused plot of land into an accessible space for local people to learn, grow, share and enjoy. An aspirational brief was established through intense engagement with the local community to shape the project and build local support.

Alt-Architecture worked with Green Squirrel to translate the aspirational brief and ideas from the community into a masterplan vision.

The site layout comprises a community building for workshops and events held by Green Squirrel and community use, affordable shipping container business studios, and flexible spaces to host a range of events from pop-up markets to festivals. Greenhouse structures and a potting shed support the activities to be undertaken in the large community growing space.

The images we produced captured the vision for the proposal and helped secure funding from the National Lottery, Co-operative Foundation and Welsh Government.

As well as working on the masterplan and vision for the site, we supported Green Squirrel through the planning process and helped to coordinate the design with the required sustainable drainage strategy.

A biodiversity corridor runs through the site and delineates an accessible route from the entrance yard. The bioswale and bioretention planters form part of the sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) which channels excess water from roofs and overflows to water butts and into planted areas. Opportunities to sit, and meet and enjoy the site are integrated into the biodiversity corridor.

This project was undertaken as ALT-Architecture.