Landscape architect behind London’s Olympic parklands dies

John Hopkins, the visionary landscape architect and mastermind of Londons Olympic parklands, has died aged 59.

In directing the team who created the vibrant backdrop to last years Olympics and Paralympics in Stratford, east London, Mr Hopkins has also sowed the seeds for the UKs largest new urban park for more than a century.

Mr Hopkins, a top international landscape architect, urban designer, environmental planner and author, was responsible for more than 250 acres of green space in his work at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) from 2007 to 2011.

Liverpool-born Mr Hopkins died suddenly last week.

We are all shocked by the sad news of John Hopkins passing, ODA chairman Sir John Armitt said.

So many people delighted in seeing the parklands and public open spaces last summer - which will now be an enduring legacy of Johns work.

Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time.

Mr Hopkins fiancee Laura Adams described him as something of an iconoclast - a man who knew what he stood for and was unafraid to tell the truth.

The gardens surrounding the Velodrome at the Olympic Park, which were masterminded by visionary landscape architect John Hopkins

She said: He never let us forget the urgency of our responsibility toward our environment, but he was thoughtful, with the patience and humility to plan and design projects whose real benefit can only be truly appreciated by a generation hell never know.

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Landscape architect behind London’s Olympic parklands dies