Richmond Council approved the London-based practice’s scheme on April 9. It involves demolishing an existing timber café and toilets at Roehampton Gate, which were built in 2004 as temporary replacements after a fire destroyed the previous facilities. Plans also include cycle storage, extensive landscaping and a pedestrian access gate on the park boundary. In its submission to the council, the architect described the proposal as for two modest, timber-clad buildings, linked by a curving, timber-framed canopy supporting a green roof, ‘which defines the outdoor pedestrian area and provides shade and shelter’.Advertisement The sloping roof will contain solar panels and a screened rooftop plant area above the kitchen and stores. Although technically the building was considered inappropriate due to being built on Metropolitan Open Land and in a Grade I listed park, council officers said this was outweighed by the benefits for health and wellbeing, the economy, employment, transport, accessibility, design and sustainability. Councillors on the committee agreed, with Liberal Democrat Julia Neden-Watts describing it as a ‘pretty well-designed scheme’ and praising its biodiversity net gain (BNG). A report submitted with the application states that a 17.91 per cent gain can be achieved at the site through the introduction of 3,020m2 of lowland dry acidic grassland, 340m2 of acid grassland on its green roof, a bioswale along the southwest of the site and the planting of 25 new trees. Earlier plans also included a flexible meeting space but this was dropped at pre-application stage following concerns about the size of the facility compared to the existing buildings.Advertisement David Morley Architects’ planning application noted the scheme would establish a direct relationship between the building and park landscape and primarily use natural materials. Paving will be mainly porous coxwell gravel with tarmac only used in trafficked or intensely used areas; seats will be made from stone-filled gabions with timber planks where possible; cycle parking will feature bespoke lightweight racks and bars, potentially made from corten steel; and water attenuation will be provided by natural swales with corten-grid channels. The 970ha park is the largest of London’s Royal parks. King Charles I moved his court to Richmond Palace in 1625 to escape the plague, and had the park enclosed with an eight-mile brick wall in 1637 to keep his deer inside and the public out.