Albany Riverside Development Park Interface Proposals
The Albany Riverside Development planning documents (for the redevelopment of the Watermans Arts Centre and Watermans Park office buildings) have recently become available on the LBH Planning website.
It is clear from the submitted documents that the scheme envisages reconfiguring part of Watermans Park adjacent to the proposed café to improve the relationship between the park and the development. Here’s an image:
The image is taken from an Indicative Proposal of Park Interface document which you can find here. The whole suite of planning documents can be found here on the Planning website.
On first review we welcome improvements to accessibility and park integration but first need clarity from the LBH Parks team who were consulted on the proposals on:
- Guarantee of step-free café access
- Access to toilets in the café
- Access to water from the development to bring the drinking fountain by the children’s playground into commission and from a standpipe or tap
- Justification for removal of some healthy trees at the park entrance (but within the development boundary) and one within the park (close to the development boundary)
- Community involvement in final park interface design and management.
If you have any comments on the indicative park interface proposals please do let me know by 19 September.
The Albany Riverside development is still connected to the redevelopment of the Police Station site in the centre of Brentford through a s106 agreement which requires a new Arts Centre to be completed at that site before works begin at Albany Riverside - so unless the agreement is amended in some way it could still be several years away.
Gardening Club
On Saturday 6 September at 2pm, we’ll be:
- Weeding and tidying flower beds near the western entrance
- Training climbing plants over the pergolas
- Taking part in 10-minute flower-insect timed counts for the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme
It’s a great way to meet neighbours, support biodiversity, and enjoy the outdoors. Families welcome — please wear suitable clothing and gloves, and bring tools if you have them (we’ll also have some to share). After the recent rain the ground should be a little more forgiving these days.
We’ll arrange more gardening days throughout the autumn.
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If you have any comments about the park please do get in touch.
Philip Jones
Chair, Friends of Watermans Park
4 September 2025
chair@friendsofwatermanspark.org