Bankside Urban Forest gets £4 million funding boost from LDA

The Bankside Urban Forest improvements will make the most of the extension of Tate Modern and the new Blackfriars Station on the Thames Path.

"The project will make safe and attractive routes from the riverside to public transport links and draw some of the 12 million people who visit the riverside each year into the wider Bankside area.

The Bankside Urban Forest project, spearheaded by Better Bankside, has been developed from a framework drawn up in 2006 by Witherford Watson Mann architects.

The first LDA-funded projects will be at Great Guildford Street and Flat Iron Square.

"London's Great Outdoors programme is creating a network of attractive public spaces across the capital," says Boris Johnson, Mayor of London.

"Work to improve the Bankside area will not only link together the Tate Modern and the upgraded Blackfriars Station, but will now stretch from the river as far as Elephant & Castle.

"This important project will open up long overlooked areas of historical interest and create better access for residents and visitors alike."

The Bankside Urban Forest will play a prominent part in the London Festival of Architecture this summer, with lots of events taking place around Bankside during the first weekend of July.

"Well designed public spaces can define an entire area," says Peter Bishop, deputy chief executive of the London Development Agency.

"These changes in Bankside will open up the area and spread the regeneration centred around Tate Modern – creating a Great Space that is an attractive place to live, visit and invest in."