South Kensington is home to one of the world’s most concentrated collections of cultural, scientific and educational institutions. An iconic group of organisations, many of which have called the area home since the Great Exhibition of 1851, form the Exhibition Road Cultural Group (ERCG) – publicly known as the South Ken Culture Quarter. Together, these organisations collaborate to deliver opportunities for exploration, learning and inspiration to the millions of visitors who come to the area each year.
As part of its mission, the group has committed to ambitious zero emissions and nature-positive goals in response to the climate and biodiversity crises. This work is being led through the South Kensington Zero Emissions Nature Positive (South Ken ZEN+) programme, which brings organisations across the cultural quarter together to expand urban green infrastructure and create a more nature-positive and connected community.
Before the biodiversity baselining project began, GiGL had already collaborated with many of the culture quarter’s member organisations over the years. From longstanding partnerships with The Royal Parks (TRP), the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster City Council, to working alongside researchers, students and species experts from organisations such as Imperial College London and the Natural History Museum (NHM) – the project brought together both familiar faces and new connections. It was an opportunity not only to strengthen existing relationships, but also to introduce GiGL’s work to organisations across the programme that were less familiar with the role environmental data can play in supporting better decisions for nature.
Biodiversity baselining project
Research carried out in 2024 by South Ken ZEN+ (SKZ+) identified a tension between the need for public space and the urgency for enhancing biodiversity. In an area with such pressures from high densities of people and buildings, two objectives that could be seen as complementary – creating public space and increasing biodiversity – were found to be at odds.
This study highlighted two key challenges. The first was improving public perceptions of nature within the area, an important step towards achieving SKZ+’s nature-positive ambitions. The second was the lack of a shared evidence base. Although many organisations were collecting ecological and environmental data, each was doing so independently, meaning valuable information remained fragmented and was often reliant on local knowledge.
As SKZ+ Programme Lead, Tiva Montalbano set out to address this gap. After hearing about GiGL via a close contact from Westminster City Council, GiGL was commissioned to build a comprehensive biodiversity baseline for the area.
Beginning in August 2025, our year-long partnership brought together ecological records, habitat information, green infrastructure and climate data to create a suite of accessible maps. The aim was to provide SKZ+ with a robust evidence base that could strengthen funding applications while establishing a foundation for monitoring change, identifying opportunities for enhancement and informing future action across the district. The value of this work is already clear, as Tiva reflects:
“Working with GiGL to make sense of all the data that was already knocking around – to generate useful, comprehensive, user-friendly maps – has been so helpful! It’s given us a new perspective on our neighbourhood helped us figure out what interventions and locations to prioritise.
GiGL made it so easy and doing this same work with a private consultant would have cost us a fortune by comparison!
These maps will be the foundation of many, many local projects going forward and support our urban greening and biodiversity work (and our engagement with local stakeholders) for years to come.”
Methodology
As with any baselining project, the starting point was understanding what data already existed. Thanks to GiGL’s long-standing partnerships with many ERCG members, we already held a significant amount of relevant information. If gaps existed, we knew exactly who to ask.
Working closely with Tiva, member organisations were contacted and readily shared their latest datasets or reports. We received updates on the NHM’s newly redeveloped gardens – valuable information not only for this project but also for GiGL’s wider work. Recent biodiversity reports from Imperial College London and the Science Museum provided further ecological evidence, while local authorities contributed updated tree and open space datasets. Through our partnership with TRP we already had a wealth of recent data from them to add to maps. The willingness of partners to locate, share and update their information made this a genuine collaborative effort.
We then expanded the baseline by identifying additional open and publicly available datasets, including flood risk, green and blue cover, and tree canopy information, much of which was sourced through the London Datastore. Combining these datasets created a much richer understanding of the area’s environmental assets and challenges.
Following data cleaning, digitisation and integration, we began producing the maps. A key objective throughout the project was accessibility. The maps needed to communicate information clearly so they could be used for a wide range of purposes, from community engagement to funding applications.
Over several months, the maps were refined through feedback from the programme’s Biodiversity Working Group, which brought together biodiversity specialists from participating organisations. Additional feedback came from a wider biodiversity workshop attended by estate managers, local practitioners, students and organisations already working to improve the area (such as Sugi Pocket Forests). Key feedback that GiGL implemented after the workshops included filling in data gaps with local knowledge and producing multi-layer maps to show how various datasets interreact. This was also achieved by using interactive pdfs where layers can be turned on and off.
Following a review of the maps, the workshop sparked ambitious discussions about how action could be taken across the Exhibition Road area. Ideas ranged from relatively small, achievable interventions – such as introducing more movable planters and engaging private garden owners to collaborate – to bold, no-limit visions, including a large pergola spanning sections of Exhibition Road. After all, if some of the world’s largest cultural organisations can’t come together to make it happen, who can?
Mapping
The habitat and green infrastructure map became one of the project’s most valuable outputs. It provides a clear picture of the broad habitat types currently present across the area, highlighting where habitat diversity is greatest and showing how smaller interventions, such as planters and green roofs, contribute to improving connectivity.
This is complemented by broader maps showing green cover and tree canopy. When viewed alongside flood risk mapping, these datasets help identify where existing green infrastructure may not be providing effective flood mitigation and where flooding is more likely to be driven by wider infrastructure constraints. Namely, the area around South Kensington station is very prone to flooding due to the old drainage infrastructure and a 10-metre downward slope from the top of a very ‘grey’ Exhibition Road. Together, they provide valuable evidence to inform future investment and decision-making.
Supporting these overview maps are analyses of walking distances to publicly accessible open spaces. While several spaces are accessible during the day, the only permanently publicly accessible green space within the study area is the small triangular Yalta Memorial Garden. This clearly demonstrates the area’s limited access to green space and reinforces one of the key findings from the original research.
Additional maps explore tree species diversity and biodiversity records across the area. These reveal how street tree composition varies throughout the area and highlights notable differences between neighbouring green spaces, including the Secret Garden and Princes Gardens. The map also draws attention to the rather sparse tree cover along Exhibition Road. Meanwhile, the species heatmap indicates recording effort for the area and can be used to encourage gaps to be filled. Most green spaces have less than 5 species records, while NHM and TRP fly the flag for wildlife with their regular contributions.
Outcomes and next steps
The completed maps now provide SKZ+ with a comprehensive visual evidence base for biodiversity and public space across the cultural quarter. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, partners now have robust data to support conversations around biodiversity enhancement, public access and future investment. As a final step, GiGL have also been producing a series of summary maps to communicate green infrastructure connectivity and accessibility in simple side-by side comparisons. These are specifically designed to support funding bids by demonstrating need and where investment could deliver the greatest benefits.
Although the area continues to face political, practical and bureaucratic challenges, decision-makers now have a tool that enables them to identify what is working well, where interventions are needed most and where additional monitoring – such as habitat condition assessments – would further strengthen the evidence base.
The maps are also well suited to public engagement. They can help direct species recording and encourage wider participation in conservation activities.
The next step is for South Ken ZEN+ to use this evidence to strengthen funding applications and deliver projects on the ground. GiGL will continue to support the partnership with data expertise as new opportunities emerge. The baseline has been established – now it is for our partners to use these tools to turn evidence into action.