About Chandos Park

Chandos Park is a public park in Edgware, North London, featuring a playground, outdoor gym equipment, football pitches, tennis courts, a table tennis area, cricket facilities and large open lawns. The park can be accessed from Camrose Avenue, Merlin Crescent and Methuen Road. Free parking is available via the Camrose Avenue entrance, and the park is within walking distance of Canons Park and Queensbury Underground stations, with several local bus routes serving the area. Visitors should note that there are currently no public toilets or café facilities within the park.

As part of the Action for Silk Stream programme, a multi-disciplinary flood resilience initiative funded by DEFRA and managed by the Environment Agency, LUC worked alongside civil and hydraulic engineers to deliver nature-based solutions that address flood risk while enhancing ecological value and community benefit. The project forms part of a wider programme of river restoration and public realm improvements across the Silk Stream catchment.

Design Highlights

LUC’s design integrates essential hydraulic engineering into the park landscape, transforming functional flood management infrastructure into a visual and ecological asset.

The project uses Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) to help manage catchment-wide hydraulic pressure. By mimicking the natural water cycle, the scheme delivers flood attenuation, improves water quality through wetland cells, and supports the restoration of a more naturalised watercourse.

Within Chandos Park, key interventions include the introduction of new meanders, channel widening, wetland cells and swales to increase and manage flood storage capacity. Redundant fencing and invasive species have been removed to help reconnect the river with the wider park landscape, while new wetland and riparian planting helps foster a resilient local ecosystem and improves visual and physical connectivity. Extensive tree planting has also been introduced to offset tree losses during the works.

The project also includes new play provision, featuring a secure area for younger children and a large informal play landscape integrated into new landforms, alongside new table tennis and picnic areas, path resurfacing and updated signage.

What Visitors Will Learn

Visitors will have the opportunity to learn how nature-based solutions can be used to manage flood risk while enhancing public parks for both people and wildlife.

The project demonstrates how Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), wetland cells and river restoration can work together to provide flood attenuation, improve water quality and support a more naturalised watercourse.

Visitors will also be able to explore how hydraulic engineering, ecological enhancement and recreation can be successfully integrated within a multifunctional public landscape, creating benefits for both local communities and the wider environment.