In 2021 Guide Dogs for the Blind commissioned BD to re-imagine their existing regional centre at Redbridge. With keen dog devotees in-house, we were thrilled to design the landscape for this centre which already trains around 250 guide dogs a year.
The site is located in Woodford Green in outer East London, constrained by the local green belt designation as well as the historic setting of the Claybury conservation area bounding the site to the south and east. The steeply sloping topography also provided us with many design opportunities and challenges.
We loved learning all about the life of a training guide dog to inform our designs, and it quickly became clear this landscape would need to work ultra hard to fulfil the needs of every human and dog using it. As well as safe, accessible and joyful access for staff and visitors, our designs needed to incorporate enrichment and training opportunities for the dogs with their handlers, alongside a variety of circulatory walking routes to assess their progress. It was also crucial to allow safe vehicular access both for servicing of the building, alongside the dropping off and collection of the guide dogs.
Our completed design for Redbridge brings visitors and staff up to the main building along a re-designed access track with integrated raingarden. This is diversely planted with grasses, shrubs and flowering perennials to welcome the eye, as well as capture and treat water run-off sustainably. Swathes of native wildflowers across the site also provides habitat for local pollinators and insects.
New, semi-mature tree planting provides succession alongside the existing tree-lined boundary, with additional native buffer planting providing a mosaic of connected corridors for wildlife. At the building’s entrance a sensory garden delights visitors with tactile grasses, colour and scented flowers, and leads directly to the west-facing café terrace.
It was also crucial our designs followed all best practice for accessibility, and we enjoyed ensuring movement across Redbridge allowed access for all – carefully considering accessible gradients, pavement widths, and the visual materiality throughout.
Client: Guide Dogs for the Blind
Architects: Kay Elliott
Landscape Budget: Confidential
Status: Completed in 2025
“It has been such a pleasure to work with Guide Dogs UK and the wider design team to help deliver this project that will help facilitate their life-changing work for so many people for years to come.”
Helen Kirk (Senior Associate, BD)
“When we started this project, we knew that the green belt status of the redevelopment land was going to be a vital part of it, and we wanted to make sure we did it right. Having BD Landscape Architects carefully add to the landscape around the new centre has given us a space that is not only a perfect space to train our dogs, but can also be used by our staff and service users to relax, and is a haven for local wildlife.”
Anna Hoskyns (Senior Manager – Workplace Projects)
