HALO Wins Ebbsfleet Healthy Garden City Competition
< View all news

HALO Wins Ebbsfleet Healthy Garden City Competition

Published on 12 September 2018

JTP is delighted to announce that HALO, our collaborative submission to the Ebbsfleet Healthy Garden City competition, has been named the winner, from an international pool of entries.

The competition team was led by BMD, with JTP, PBA and artist Sebastien Boyesen. The winning design “HALO – A model for growing a healthy infrastructure” was developed during a collaborative design process involving a charrette workshop with all team members.

The two-stage competition, led by the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation, NHS England and the Landscape Institute, sought proposals to transform the 800ha garden city into an ‘active, engaging, and uplifting’ place which encourages healthier lifestyles among residents, visitors and the local workforce.

HALO comprises four key interventions that overlay Ebbsfleet like a web. These are:

  • Hives: Access to Others: Innovative activity hubs that foster social and community engagement. 
  • Arcs: Reconnecting to nature: A regional ‘people highway’ prioritising pedestrians and cyclists, providing uninterrupted access to nature and stitching together fragmented landscapes
  • Links: Access for all: A localised green grid network enabling direct access from door to nature and creating wildlife-rich environments
  • Organics: Edibles Landscapes: Focal points for food production and habitat creation

These interventions respond to local context through a range of typological treatments, that are reflective of local landscape character, building a richness of experience that is unique to Ebbsfleet.

“
HALO’s winning design stood out for the clarity, and the collaboration of the multidisciplinary team bringing together the best aspects of living in London with those of living in Kent, the Garden of England. The panel of judges were truly impressed with all of the finalists’ designs and felt they showed inspirational leadership, an ability to think holistically when faced with such a challenging site, and how it connects with the people who live to improve their lives.
Dan Cook, Landscape Institute Chief Executive

Ebbsfleet Garden City will be the largest of ten healthy new towns being developed across the UK for NHS England, to demonstrate how the effective use and integration of landscape into new neighbourhoods can deliver health benefits.

The competition was judged by an expert panel of 10, including Ebbsfleet Development Corporation chair Michael Cassidy, chairman of Berkeley Group Tony Pidgley, and Christine Clarke, head of portfolio management at Land Securities.