Wimbledon Park
- Client: All England Lawn Tennis Club
- Architect: Allies and Morrison
- Contacts: Jon Roshier, Oliver Coleman
- LPA: London Borough of Merton
Working with the AELTC, Rolfe Judd Planning has been leading a hybrid (outline and detailed) planning application to bring The Qualifying event to the former private golf course at Wimbledon Park, opposite the existing main site where The Championships are annually held. The proposal seeks to deliver 38 grass tennis courts and a new 8,000 seater show court, to boost the prominence of The Qualifying event, enhance The Championships, and maintain Wimbledon as the most prestigious tournament of the tennis sporting calendar.
The site straddles the borough boundaries of London Borough of Merton and London Borough of Wandsworth and has therefore required close and regular communications with both local authorities, along with the local community and the GLA. As a major sporting event, bodies such as TfL and the Metropolitan Police have also been engaged with.
The proposals have had to be developed in consideration of the Grade II* Registered Park and Garden designed by Capability Brown, the Wimbledon Park Conservation Area, remnants of Ancient Woodland, the site’s ecological value and its situation on Metropolitan Open Land (a similar designation to the Green Belt).
Along with the new facilities, the proposals commit to providing substantial public benefits for example, delivering a new 9.4ha public park, significant investment into the whole of Wimbledon Park which will remove it from the ‘heritage at risk’ register, desilting and restoration of the lake, community facilities, local employment opportunities and a modal shift to sustainable transport methods during the annual tournament.
