Huckerby Meadows:

Located just past the end of Heathrow Airport’s first runway, Huckerby Meadows provides a stunning juxtaposition of London; urban life and wild life, side by side.

This project was a real joy to work on, to create a low impact design that interweaves people and nature. Enticing the public into the nature reserve, while simultaneously offsetting that with an expansion of green cover into the surrounding ocean of concrete.

Mo designed the main entrance out of reclaimed crane metal, paying homage to the industrial and immigration history of this part of London. The entrance frame is rapped with key native climber plants, echoing nature’s reclamation of disused industrial spaces.  

Low impact raised boardwalks made out of reclaimed oak connect the entrance to different parts of the nature reserve, encouraging visitors into the meadows and allowing safe access all year round, even during the flood season when some parts of the meadows are submerged under water.

The northern part of the nature reserve was restored from a Heathrow car park into Rolling Meadows. Here, Mo taps into his fearless design sensibility to create a solar powered Pop Up café using state of the art Japanese hydraulics technology, an ode to the contrasting history of the location. Crowned with a green roof of local meadow plants, making the exuberant yet compact café undetectable once lowered into the ground.

Offsetting these interventions, the design was completed by a spreading network of wildlife green corridors. Connecting the meadows with neighboring parks by expanding the green cover through the surrounding streets, car parks and industrial areas. Using a tiered combination of dense planting where possible with hanging planters mounted on already existing infrastructure (street lights/poles/walls), increasing the levels of biodiversity and reviving struggling species.