Kew Reach partners with Greenwich Peninsula

Kew Reach is pleased to be partnering with Knight Dragon, the master developer delivering the regeneration of Greenwich Peninsula, one of London's largest regeneration projects. Over the past two decades, the Peninsula has transformed former industrial land into a mixed-use neighbourhood with significant investment in public space, habitat creation and climate resilience.

Along its riverside frontage, investment in strengthening and adapting river walls has helped support the long-term resilience of the Peninsula to climate-related challenges, while creating opportunities to enhance the relationship between the built environment and the natural landscape.

The development will bring new parks and public realm, replicating the success of the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park, which has demonstrated the value that well-managed urban habitats can bring to both wildlife and local communities. These measures show how urban regeneration can respond to environmental challenges while creating places for people to live, work and spend time. Rather than viewing biodiversity as a standalone requirement, Greenwich Peninsula is exploring how nature-based solutions and green infrastructure can contribute to the long-term sustainability and resilience of the neighbourhood.

Greenwich Peninsula has long understood that a thriving urban community depends on a thriving natural one. Its commitment to a low to zero carbon future, its investment in generous green public spaces, and the enduring success of the Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park all point to a development that treats biodiversity not as an obligation to be met but as a defining quality of good placemaking. For us, that makes Greenwich Peninsula an exemplar of what forward-looking sites can achieve when ecological ambition is matched by genuine commitment.

Our work together focuses on the next chapter of the Peninsula's growth. Building on the strong ecological foundations already in place, we are helping to guide how nature is threaded through the development as it continues to evolve, with the shared aim of exceeding the 10% biodiversity net gain target set for the development. Our approach is grounded in science, drawing on the world-class ecological expertise of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and shaped by the particular character, constraints, and opportunities of this remarkable riverside site.

A central theme of our collaboration is resilience. London's climate is changing, and the green spaces created today must be able to flourish in the conditions of the decades to come. By combining forward-looking climate modelling with detailed site knowledge, we are helping to inform choices that will allow planting to establish, mature, and endure, reducing the need for costly replacement and ensuring that the Peninsula's landscapes function for generations to come.

Equally important is our shared ambition to build greater connectivity, both within the development and beyond its boundaries. Birds, pollinators, and other wildlife move through the city in search of food, shelter and places to breed, and the richest, most resilient habitats are those that connect to one another. By understanding how the Peninsula sits within its wider ecological context, we can help create green spaces that act as stepping stones across the urban landscape, expanding on the good work already achieved in the Ecology Park and drawing the development into the living network of the Thames corridor and the city around it.

To do this well, we believe in measuring what matters and we are proud to be working alongside two innovative partners whose technology allows us to understand the site's biodiversity with real precision. Chirrup uses bioacoustics technology, with artificial intelligence identifying bird species from their song, turning the sounds of the Peninsula into reliable ecological data. Sensibee brings the same rigour to pollinators, using automated monitoring to capture the abundance and diversity of the insects on which so much of nature depends. Together, these tools give us a detailed and living picture of the species already present and those we would hope to welcome, allowing planting and habitat decisions to be guided by evidence rather than assumption.

This is the essence of how we like to work. Good ecological outcomes are rarely the product of a single intervention. They come from careful listening, sound science and genuine collaboration between everyone shaping a place. In Greenwich Peninsula we have found a partner that shares that belief, and a site with the ambition and the momentum to show what urban nature can be. We look forward to expanding on the excellent work already underway, deepening the biodiversity of the Peninsula, strengthening its connections to the wider city, and building resilience for the years to come.

Ushna Mughal, Senior ESG and Community Impact Lead, Knight Dragon

Charlie Roper, Director of Business Development, Kew Reach