People from Southall, Hayes and the wider community have been celebrating the launch of a new park, Central Gardens at The Green Quarter, in a packed day of summer fun.
The day's events kicked off with a tree planting ceremony to mark the park opening, with local community representatives in attendance. 250 new trees will be planted across Central Gardens in all.
Berkeley also ran a competition inviting local children to submit drawings, photos or a short story on what they liked most about Central Gardens, with the winners lending a hand in the tree planting ceremony.
There was something on offer for everyone at the event, with a big screen showing the penultimate day of the Olympics, a host of classic funfair stalls, live music, street food, a photo booth, and living statues providing guests with plenty of entertainment.
Ashley Kensington, Managing Director at Berkeley West Thames, said "It was wonderful to see so many of the community enjoying the new park this weekend. For us, The Green Quarter is about creating a place for nature and people to thrive. With wetlands and 2,500 trees planned across the site, Central Gardens is just the start of a major transformation of this landscape into a place for everyone to enjoy. We look forward to hosting many more community events here."
When completed, Central Gardens will stretch 500m in length, with over 250 trees, an impressive water feature and 4.5 acres of newly accessible open space. Future phases of the 3,750-home development will provide even more open green space, with 13 acres of parkland and wetlands for the local community, and two new footbridges that will provide access to adjacent 90-acre Minet County Park. Once complete, The Green Quarter will deliver, or open up access to, more green space than St James's Park and Green Park combined.
The Green Quarter is one of 42 Berkeley Group sites that are on course to deliver a net biodiversity gain, which means the landscape has been carefully designed to measurably enhance the natural environment, instead of taking away valuable habitats.