Spring 2026 and the new Barnes Green emerges
Story 188: Eveything looks better in the sunshine
Welcome to Bridged2050, a place-based futures project exploring how Barnes might thrive in a climate-ready future
Walking across Barnes Green in the sunshine, the changes to Beverley Brook suddenly came into focus.
For months Community BlueScapes has been reshaping this stretch of the brook as part of a wider effort to improve flood resilience across the Beverley Brook catchment, including Barnes.
As Community BlueScapes explains,
There is a high flood risk to this area caused by a combination of heavy rainfall from storms, and high tide levels in the River Thames, meaning water in the Beverley Brook cannot be released into the River Thames during these conditions.
It’s important that we increase the water capacity in the Brook and near it to cope with this extra rainfall, so it does not overflow to nearby homes.
Barnes boasts an unusually rich blue and green landscape - the Wetland Centre, the Thames and the Common. In a warming, wetter and less predictable climate, these places will matter more. They are not just pleasant scenery. They are part of how the area protects itself as our climate changes.
For Barnes Green this meant the river being
.. carefully redirected into the Green, the creation of a fully accessible island linked by a new bridge, and the addition of a dog beach with stepped access down to the brook to help reduce erosion.
The riverbank has also been enhanced with pre-planted coir rolls to support habitat creation and long-term bank stability.
The new channel will serve as the primary low-flow route, while the existing channel will be retained as a secondary overflow channel during high-flow events.
In the event there is a serious flooding incident, Barnes Green can act as a flood plain for the Brook and recover more quickly.
What had been a rather ordinary patch of managed green space now looks more like living infrastructure. The area is a reminder that climate adaptation does not have to look grim or defensive. Sometimes it can make a place look better, feel calmer and work harder all at once.
Notes & thoughts
Bridged2050 has argued that heat deserves as much attention as flooding.
Heat kills people, water destroy property.
This is not an either/or, we need both.
A climate-ready Barnes will need to prepare for both.
That is why Bridged2050 welcomes the work of Community BlueScapes. It shows what can happen when technical know-how, public purpose and care for place come together in one local project.
The next challenge is to bring the same ambition to hotter days and warmer nights: more shade, more trees, cooler walking routes, better buildings and public spaces designed for summer as well as winter.
