New Camel Enclosure
A planning application has been made to Westminster Council for a new camel enclosure.
It's due to be located on the spare land (currently grass and path) bordering, Animal Adventure, the Casson outdoor area, Tiger Territory and Regents Park.
The plans can be found here:-
12/02834/FULL | Alterations to camel enclosure including the construction of a new shelter and alterations to railings/fencing. | London Zoo Outer Circle Regents Park London NW1 4RY
The third to eighth sections of the Design and Access Statement (which can be found in the above link):-
Design Process
The design of the new Camel enclosure primarily responds to the need of the Camels with adequate outside space and indoor accommodation. The Camel’s sense of space is considered to be an important factor in their wellbeing and the new location, with no visual barriers between the South side of the enclosure and Regents Park beyond, provides this benefit.
The visitor experience is also improved without the disadvantage of ‘crossover’ views between visitors from one side of the viewing area to another. The Camels and the visitors will be able to view each other at the same level and in closer, and safe, proximity.
The barrier design consists of a shallow moat that acts as a visually non-intrusive deterrent on the Camel side and a low relatively transparent barrier on the visitor side.
The Camel shelter will be a relatively small new timber framed pitched roof structure that has been located and designed to appear to be very much a part of the existing timber framed Children’s Zoo buildings. These join onto the adjacent stone and render Pet Care Centre ‘tower’. The new building continues this theme and after a few years of patination of the Corten roof, will appear to be part of the original Children’s Zoo.
Environmental Performance
The main environmental benefit from this project is the design of a new Camels shelter with a timber framed structure that requires no heating or cooling. Cross ventilation and shade in the summer and a fully enclosed shelter in the winter provide the welfare that Camels require in all the seasons. Heating with heat lamps will only be required in extremely cold weather on rare occasions when a Camel requires supplementary heating due to illness.
All the timber for the structure and the cladding will be sourced from certified sustainable sources. This was the main focus of the adjacent 1993 Children’s Zoo, being one the first projects in this country to use only environmentally friendly materials and methods of construction.
Demolition
No demolition of existing structures required.
Size
The new enclosure provides the camels with an area of approximately 900 sq.m. The previous, purpose built Camel area, in the Children’s Zoo, only covered an area of approximately 600 sq.m.
The Camel shelter will be the same size as the previous, purpose built Camel Shelter at approximately 40 sq.m.
Visitors will be able to view the Camels at any point on the 50 metre length of the visitor walkway on the North and West sides of the Camel enclosure.
Use
The existing site consists of lawn, off-show service area, tarmac visitor walkway areas and a section of neglected tarmac path and earth bank that was previously part of Regents Park before the boundary adjustments in May 2001 and September 2004.
Appearance
The design of the new Camel enclosure is largely an issue of Landscaping There are good views of the site from Regents Park but these views suggest that there is nothing worth looking at between the Casson Pavilion and the boundary fence. Offering users of Regents Park a ‘free’ view of the Camels at relatively close proximity will benefit the Park and will also benefit the Zoo, encouraging people to go to the Zoo to see more of what it has to offer.
