engineering.
AKT II delivered structural and civil engineering for the regeneration of Grosvenor Square Gardens, creating innovative engineering solutions that balance heritage conservation, environmental resilience and public amenity within one of London's most celebrated historic landscapes.
Transforming Grosvenor Square Gardens through innovative engineering, heritage-sensitive design and nature-based water management solutions.
The redevelopment reimagines the Grade II-listed gardens as a contemporary public park while respecting their historic character and internationally significant setting. Working within the Mayfair Conservation Area, the project required careful coordination around listed memorials, mature protected trees, existing utilities, archaeological constraints and sensitive below-ground conditions. These challenges demanded highly integrated engineering that supported the landscape vision while minimising intervention within the historic fabric of the site.
Our structural engineering included the delivery of two new park buildings together with foundations and public realm structures designed to protect extensive tree root protection zones. By carefully selecting foundation systems and reducing excavation wherever possible, we enabled construction within one of London’s most environmentally and historically sensitive urban parks.
A defining aspect of the project was the development of an innovative surface water strategy that replaced traditional engineered drainage with a landscape-led sustainable drainage approach. Working alongside the landscape architects, environmental specialists and Westminster City Council, we demonstrated through detailed hydraulic modelling and infiltration testing that large-scale soil decompaction and enhanced planting could successfully manage extreme rainfall events while improving biodiversity, tree health and the site’s microclimate. This approach established a new benchmark for sustainable water management within an historic urban park.
AKT II also worked closely with Thames Water to secure new connections into the trunk sewer network, ensuring new park facilities were integrated within constrained existing infrastructure. During design development, historic underground voids were investigated and infilled using methods that maintained the existing groundwater regime, avoiding adverse impacts on surrounding trees and ground conditions. The resulting engineering is largely invisible, allowing landscape and ecology to take centre stage while delivering resilient infrastructure that supports the gardens for future generations.
