Southbank Centre artwork attracts an audience of bees, birds and butterflies
Image credit Eva Nameth
Visitors to London’s Southbank Centre will find wildflowers in bloom near the entrance to the Queen Elizabeth Hall where Haven, a micro-meadow with wildlife-friendly sculpture, has taken up residence on a Brutalist balcony.
Haven is a functional artwork designed to attract wildlife. Created by landscape designer Maeve Polkinhorn and artists Denman + Gould, Haven is a response to declining UK populations of insects, birds and bats. It is a place of shelter and a vessel of regeneration for urban creatures.
But there is much for human visitors to enjoy, too. The living artwork is an enriching visual (and auditory) experience. A playful complement to the tectonic architecture of the Southbank Centre, Haven will continue to grow in place until 2027.
“Haven has added a real sense of joy to the Southbank Centre’s classical Brutalist landscape. It’s a delight to see the plants coming and going with the changing seasons” says Cedar Lewisohn, curator of site design at the Southbank Centre. “Members of the public and staff have noticed birds, bees, butterflies and insects enjoying the flowers and making use of the wooden pods.”
More than forty UK native plant varieties live in Haven’s twenty-five square metres, supplying multiple food sources for insects and birds – and even browsing bats. A succession of wildflowers bloom over spring and summer, followed by a wonderful display of seed heads in autumn and winter.
Resting and nesting space is provided by the plants and in three, sculptural wildlife hotels, which rise on stems amongst the foliage. Hand-carved in untreated, sustainably sourced English oak, these striking ‘pods’ echo the seed heads that develop around them as the seasons progress.
“This pocket meadow demonstrates that modest, urban spaces can become valuable, biodiverse habitats capable of supporting many species of flora and fauna,” says Maeve Polkinhorn. “And to counter habit loss, home gardeners with even just a small balcony or window box (along with those who care for larger green and grey spaces) can take inspiration from Haven and the range of visitors it attracts.”
Artists Denman + Gould add, “Haven brings a sense of wildness to the South Bank and offers much-needed support to the creatures that depend on it.” They continue, “This really is a haven for wildlife: the meadow can be viewed – and listened to – by the public, but it can’t be directly accessed by people. Wild creatures are the artwork’s only true visitors. However, we all benefit from their presence and this type of habitat."
Visiting Haven
Haven occupies a balcony adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Hall’s entrance. The meadow can be viewed year-round from public spaces at ground level and from the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden Bar & Kitchen (or from the distinctive yellow staircase leading to it).
Originally installed in 2023, as part of Southbank Centre’s Planet Summer programme, Haven is curated by Cedar Lewisohn with Mark Healy. It will now stay on site until 2027.
Support
Haven has been generously supported by Wildflower Turf Ltd.
ENDS
Notes to editors
Contacts
Maeve Polkinhorn
Eleanor Goulding
Images
A selection of hi-res images can be accessed here.
Image credits can be found in file titles. For Éva Németh please use accents as shown here.
The artists
Maeve Polkinhorn is a landscape and garden designer based near Saffron Walden in North West Essex. She works with private and public clients to create context-sensitive outdoor spaces that are beneficial to both wildlife and people.
Russell Denman and Eleanor Goulding are artists based in Dorset. Under the banner of Denman + Gould, they specialise in public and community-based projects with a focus on sustainability.
Further project details
Plant list: Haven includes over forty UK native grasses and flowering plants e.g. foxgloves, teasels, campion and ox-eye daisies. Full plant list (.pdf)
Wildlife hotels: The pods are designed to RSPB guidelines and are available to purchase from Denman + Gould. Carved by Denman + Gould using oak felled (due to natural causes) near the artists’ Dorset studio.
Maintenance: a single cut is given each spring. Over winter, seeds provide food and hollow plant stems give habitat zones for ladybirds and other insects. The spring cut allows light to permeate, seed germination and new growth.
Deinstall: when Haven’s residency comes to an end at Southbank Centre, its substrate of wood and soil will be repurposed. Plants will be offered to local community gardens and one of the oak wildlife pods will be moved to a new home in the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden.
Meadow habitat
Success of urban meadows as habitat: sown meadows can compensate insects for the absence of large, natural meadows, especially in the fragmented spaces in cities. Source: “Patches of wildflowers in cities can be just as good for insects…” The Guardian.
Loss of UK meadow habitat: approximately 97% of flower-rich meadows have been lost since the 1930s, and with them, vital food and habitat needed by wildlife. Source: 'How to grow a wildlife meadow', Plantlife International.
Green space at Southbank Centre
Haven is one of several projects designed to ‘green’ Southbank Centre. These include: Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden and Natura Nostra pocket forest.
Wilding and habitat provision in South London
Local initiatives include: Roots and Shoots, Kennington; The Grasslands Garden and Bee Garden at Horniman Museum and Gardens; Lambeth Bee Roads; Wild Clapham; Avery Hill Park, Greenwich; We are Wilder; TfL Road Verges.
About the Southbank Centre
The Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying 11 acres along the river and its 4 venues anchor London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. We exist to present great cultural experiences that bring people together and we achieve this by providing the space for artists to create and present their best work and by creating a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual and eye-opening work. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as being home to the National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. It is also home to six Resident Orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Philharmonia Orchestra). www.southbankcentre.co.uk/
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