Visual and Amenity Enhancements to Cherry Hinton Hall Open Space Cherry Hinton Hall Lake Restoration

Cambridge City Council alongside active friends group had been looking to improve the amenity of this well used community open space for its visitors. Used for recreation by local residents and famous for hosting the Cherry Hinton Folk Festival, the park containing a Chalk Stream which flows through the site retained by a weir to provide a small lake was in need of some significant improvements both for its users and the biodiversity of the area. Cambridge City Council invited contractors to propose designs for restoring the site within an agreed budget.

Following extensive site surveys Ebsford identified a selection of core works that would have the most impact on the visitor attraction and parkland.

The main focus included the removal of silt from the lake, bank reprofiling, enhanced marginal vegetation and public access arrangements with the resurfacing of hard standing areas.

A vast sediment build-up throughout the lake was having a detrimental effect on the wildlife and the biodiversity of the area. Whilst dredged material is often deemed as waste, Ebsford saw this as an excellent opportunity to re-use the sediment onsite and create beautifully planted reed beds, highlighted with native plants to add colour and create a haven for biodiversity to flourish.

Truxors, our state of the art amphibious machines, were used to extract large volumes of silt with a minimal impact on the environment. Once specialist aquatic fencing was installed the silt was relocated behind the fencing to create new marginal zones.

Input was welcomed from the public and following community engagement, works were extended to the delineation of the original chalk stream to bring back the faster flow throughout the lake. A submerged structure was also constructed with aquatic fencing to segregate the duck feeding area. 

Wildfowl Location Surveys identified this quiet part of the park as being popular with Kingfishers and Swans and provided the perfect conditions for successful reproduction. Ebsford constructed and installed a designated swan nesting area and a Kingfisher bank to promote successful breeding within the Park.

Six new benches were installed along the resurfaced existing bankside areas and different colour gravels used to further segregate the duck feeding area and to improve the aesthetics of the park.

Wildflower meadows were cleared of excess vegetation and seeded alongside restored marshland to encourage local wildlife to thrive and for biodiversity to flourish.