Sutherland Road has long played an important role in the industrial heritage of the Upper Lea Valley. Today the street sits within the newly designated Blackhorse Lane Creative Enterprise Zone, now known as the Blackhorse Collective, where new residential developments sit alongside a growing community of creative industries centred around Blackhorse Workshop and Uplands Business Park.
Historically the street had no trees, minimal public green space and extensive parking along both sides. The project reimagined Sutherland Road through close collaboration with local residents, businesses and council teams, transforming it into a new green corridor that connects to wider landscapes across Waltham Forest, including nearby Wetlands.

Working with the local community, parking along the street was reduced by approximately 50%, creating space for continuous green infrastructure and sustainable drainage. The street now supports a 500-metre-long SuDS system, incorporating around 500m² of rain gardens, permeable paving and 68 new street trees. These biodiverse planted areas manage surface water, improve urban cooling and provide new habitats for pollinators and urban wildlife. The scheme is believed to form one of the longest continuous SuDS corridors on a residential street in London.

As part of the wider placemaking approach, the project also included a creative collaboration with young people from Blackhorse Workshop’s Responders and Make Stuff Club programmes. Inspired by the planting palette used in the rain gardens, participants created new hybrid flower designs by combining different botanical elements. Sixteen of these designs called ‘Flowers of Sutherland Road’, were translated into artworks and installed on metal shutters along the industrial units at the heart of the street, celebrating local biodiversity while strengthening identity and community ownership of the space.