East India Dock Basin, a local nature reserve in East London, was once part of a large network of docks operated by the East India Company, the entity which, for decades, commercially and politically ruled most of modern India. Today, it is surrounded by the creeping metropolis, with 30+ storey tower blocks sprouting up in a tight urban mesh. It is one of very few green spaces in the borough of Tower Hamlets, and pressure on its services is going to increase further with the redevelopment of neighbouring Orchard Wharf as a residential project with more than 200 homes and accommodation for 1,400 students. Silt has also been building up in the basin, with every receding tide leaving further alluvial deposits, adversely affecting species of diving birds and detrimental to biodiversity.

This project is about harnessing the power of natural processes, from silt to vegetation, to bring back the layers of history which have occupied the site and to shape a lasting identity for the former dock basin.

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