PROJECTS

A nature-rich playground where planting, play, and a veg-growing geodome nurture children’s curiosity and love of the outdoors.

Earslfield Primary School

Earlsfield Primary School appointed Davies White to reimagine their playground through a landscape-led approach. The result is a nature-rich, inclusive space that supports outdoor learning and wellbeing. Designed to inspire, the playground challenges the dull, catalogue-led norm and sets a benchmark for transforming school grounds into outdoor classrooms.

The project introduced new trees, pollinator-friendly planting, playful boundaries, a bespoke climbing structure, and a resin-bound SuDS-compliant surface. Disjointed areas were connected, and drainage issues resolved. The playground won the 2018 BALI Award and a 2019 SureSet Award celebrating its impact on learning, biodiversity, and community-led design.

Completed:  2018 Client: Earlsfield Primary School Budget:  £100K

The design emerged through months of hands-on workshops with pupils, including site surveys, model making, and plant scent-and-taste activities. These sessions gave children ownership of the process. After a visit to The Eden Project in Cornwall one pupil even proposed the geodesic greenhouse, now central to a thriving gardening club proving how children’s ideas can root a design in place and purpose.