Rainham Orilla

Rainham Riverside is a Mayor of London 'Good Growth by Design' project for London Riverside BID that enhances and conserves a narrow strip of left-over industrial 'urban wild' land, beside the River Thames, through landscape improvements and strategic architectural interventions. The site is bordered by Easter Industrial Park to the north, which has over 1,000 workers, and the Thames Path to the south.

Early surveys identified the site's grassland as ecologically valuable Open Mosaic Habitat (OMH). This is land previously disturbed by human activity which has been left to re-wild, and forms the 2nd most biodiverse habitat type after pockets of rare ancient woodland.

The Riverside is book-ended by two new public realm interventions – a covered Belvedere structure, and the 'Museum of Garden Escapes' – providing seating, shelter, and access to nature for local workers and riverside walkers, as well as protecting and enhancing appreciation of the site's biodiversity while mediating the scale of the industrial surroundings.

The Belvedere is situated at a confluence of pedestrian routes behind the Thames flood defense wall next to a large Tilda processing plant. Its fully accessible elevated deck provides views outwards across the tidal mudflats towards Thamesmead, and inwards over the species-rich grassland. The Corten colored steel structure references the site's Murex ferroalloy foundry heritage and the river wall, and it follows 'Secured by Design' principles. The angular design responds to the geometries of the landscape infrastructure and its arrangement reduces antisocial activities that were degrading the OMH.

The Museum of Garden Escapes is a reconstruction of the former Ferry Inn (latterly Three Crowns) footprint, from where passengers crossed the Thames by boat for over a thousand years. The new courtyard garden highlights the OMH's biodiversity, supporting threatened native invertebrates and songbirds, as well as providing further seating and interpretation.