Creating the Queen Elizabeth II Garden

How The Regent’s Park Created a Landmark Sustainable Garden

The Queen Elizabeth II Garden at The Regent’s Park represents one of the most ambitious horticultural projects undertaken by The Royal Parks in recent years.

Created on a formerly vacant nursery site within one of London’s most beloved Royal Parks, the garden was designed to celebrate the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II while delivering a landscape of beauty, ecological ambition, and lasting public benefit. This webinar tells the story of how it came to life.

Speakers from The Royal Parks charity will walk through the full journey of the project, from early design development to practical delivery on a complex urban site.

Drawing on the design framework by HTA Design, the presentation explores how key themes, including horticultural excellence, biodiversity, accessibility, and resilience in the face of climate change, shaped every decision made.

A central thread of the webinar is the garden’s pioneering circular economy approach, which saw materials salvaged, repurposed, and reimagined rather than sent to landfill.

From pea shingle transformed into terrazzo paving, to steel from demolished glasshouses reused in new structures, to hundreds of cubic metres of soil blended and redistributed across the site, the project demonstrates what genuinely sustainable urban horticulture can look like in practice.

With a 184% biodiversity net gain, an 80% carbon reduction, and a BREEAM Excellent rating, the Queen Elizabeth II Garden sets a compelling benchmark for future green space development in cities worldwide.