The Camden Highline team has recently announced that the project is being put on hold with immediate effect due to rising costs and a challenging fundraising environment. In their statement, they also point to the emerging cost implications of the 2026 energy shock, which are increasing construction costs well above inflation.
The team has, over the past ten years, had the ambition to transform the disused railway viaduct into a garden walk, wildlife corridor and local park; however, the rising living costs, higher operating costs and increased pressure on charities, public bodies and other partners have reduced the capacity available for discretionary capital projects, therefore, the project is no longer viable in the present economic climate.
The design team, led by James Corner Field Operations, has been in place since winning the competition in 2021, and the project received planning approval in 2023. The cost of the first section of the project was estimated at £14m (in 2023) by the Camden Highline charity, at which point they were seeking major donors to help get construction underway.
“To the thousands of people who joined our walking tours, the hundreds who supported our planning application, the 1,200 donors, the 530 schoolchildren who took part in our workshops, and the many members of our team and volunteer squad over the past decade, we are truly grateful and deeply sorry. Despite your support, and the outstanding advice and commitment of experts across many fields, this extraordinarily ambitious challenge has, for now, proved a stretch too far. Green infrastructure in cities matters. Finding space for it is rare. And battling through the treacle to make projects like this happen is difficult, lengthy, and expensive. Which is why today’s announcement is so painful to make.”
Simon Pitkeathley, Chief Executive of the Camden Highline
The trustees are said to be carefully preserving the planning, creativity and imagination that have gone into the Camden Highline to allow the project to be carried forward one day.