North Thames Natural History Museum Event

Giles Heap of CED Stone who sourced all the fantastic rocks that make up the geological progression through the garden will bring along his geologist Simon, and Darren, the project manager, to bring alive the story of the stones.
As we move through the contemporary Nature Garden, BALI North Thames Chair, Noel Brock and the Natural History Museum Head Gardener, Suzanne Patman will show and describe how the garden showcases the biodiversity of the UK, and how that will adapt to climate change.

After a bite to eat we will then be led on a walking tour by Ben Stein from Reimagine Works of the newly landscaped Beit Courtyard at Imperial College.

On the day

10:30am Arrival

10:45am Giles Heap, CED Stone Geological Progression Tour with Paul Kenrick, principal of the NHM science group

11:45am Nature Garden BNG Tour with Head Gardener Suzanne Patman and Noel Brock

12:45pm Lunch at NHM Café, to be paid for onsite

1:45pm A walking tour of the newly landscaped Beit Courtyard at Imperial College, Ben Stein, Reimagine Works

2:30pm Finish

CED Stone

CED Stone have supplied the stone for The Evolution Garden at The Natural History Museum of London.

The new gardens are now open after a five-year redevelopment plan that transforms the five-acre garden into an urban haven for people and wildlife. This transformation into the Nature Discovery Garden supported by The Cadogan Charity, and the Evolution Garden, provides a new green oasis in the city, enhancing biodiversity and offering a beautiful space for visitors to connect with nature as well as a world-class outdoor living laboratory for ecologists and environmentalists to help them understand better the diverse and hugely important role that Urban Nature has to play in our cities.

On the east side of the gardens, the Evolution Garden takes visitors on a geological journey from the Precambrian Period including 2.7 billion-year old rock, through the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian and Carboniferous periods, all the way to the present with each metre of pathway from the start of the Cambrian period marking five million years of history.

Within the Evolution Timeline supported by the Evolution Education Trust, each of these geological periods is represented by one or more rocks incorporated into the garden landscape, with all but two sources from across the UK. Using rocks formed during particular moments in Earth’s history, as well as plants, sculptures and brass inlays, the Evolution Garden tells the story of life on Earth, and CED Stone is very proud to have worked with the Natural History Museum project team to source and supply almost all the stone for the newly transformed gardens.

History

As a family business with a unique heritage, CED Stone aspire to make the world a more beautiful place by drawing on the values that they have used from the very beginning. Spanning three generations of one family, CED Stone Group has certainly faced many challenges – but one thing has remained certain, their clients' trust in our passion and expertise.

Although their involvement with natural stone dates back to the middle of the 19th Century when they supplied raw flint from France to the ceramics industry, it was in 1978 that their Chairman, Michael Heap, made the decision to supply specialist natural stone aggregates. They have been developing, growing and investing in their product range ever since.

The Project

Reimagine Works delivered the transformation of Beit Quadrangle at Imperial College London's South Kensington campus - a 500m² courtyard at the heart of one of the college's most historic buildings, completed in just six weeks. The project marked the first phase of Imperial's "Grey To Green" initiative, turning a once-sterile lawn into a biodiverse garden that supports student wellbeing and climate resilience. Working alongside landscape architect Julia Gibbons of J&L Gibbons, Reimagine Works de-paved large areas of hardscape, recycling and reusing the lifted paving on-site to create porous, grass-jointed edging that frames new timber benches and reinforces the lawn against heavy footfall. The central pathway was realigned with the courtyard's original 1910 archway, now softened by a line of fruiting Prunus cerasifera, while recycled corten steel edging created enlarged tree pits, planted with Ilex crenata, to give mature Robinia trees room to thrive. Six new tree species, thirty-three varieties of herbaceous, perennial and shrub planting, and four types of hedging were introduced, chosen for drought tolerance and year-round nectar supply to support urban pollinators. At the garden's centre sits a bespoke curved bench, handcrafted from felled Douglas Fir and salvaged Oak by Jan Hendzel Studio, secured with ground screws rather than a concrete foundation to keep the build sustainable throughout. Imperial College's union president Camille Boutrolle called the result "great for students and the community", while deputy chief property officer Jane Hay described it as a space where students could "come and relax outdoors in nature."

About Reimagine Works

Reimagine Works is a London-based design-and-build company specialising in fit-out, refurbishment, public realm and landscaping, delivering projects nationwide from concept through to completion. The team offers a full design-and-build service, working either directly with clients or alongside designers and architects to bring their vision to life. Known for open communication, practical problem-solving and dependable delivery, Reimagine Works manages complexity without fuss or ego, creating places that are lasting, magical, and loved. The Beit Quadrangle project stands as a strong example of this approach: transforming an underused urban space into a thriving, biodiverse garden built to support both community wellbeing and long-term climate resilience.