During focus week I visited Northala Fields to see whether the Form Associates award winning design in the over 5ha category is really successful as a park in its own right for the community of Ealing, or is it just landfill in disguise?  I have to admit I was pleasantly suprised.  It was probably one of the coldest days of the year with strong winds and so the 4 large mounds were really put to the test and succeeded in providing shelter from the noise of the A40.  They are really impressive upon arrival and do manage to help ground the park in its location in such close proximity to a major dual carriageway.  It is not difficult to imagine how a park here that had to do  without such an iconic feature of land art would simply be lost in the landscape with the A40 taking centre-stage.  Instead the opportunity to use waste from projects such as Wembley Stadium, WHite City and Heathrow has created not only a new landmark, but a multi-functional park.  Beyond the 4 mounds are a lake with fishing paltforms, full of wild birds, a meandering stream, a natural playground and large meadows flanked by freshly planted woodland groves.  And even on such a cold winter's day the park was being well used by joggers ascending the spirals to the summit of the mounds, teenagers bypassing the spiral ascent and instead climbing the waist height gabions to the top, and parents playing with children both in the built for purpose playgrounds and in the fields themselves.  I can't wait to see it when it has matured in a few years time and the fields of Northala have settled in their new home.