An area of greenspace within a meander of the River Clyde, in the extreme N of South Lanarkshire, 2 miles (3 km) southeast of the centre of Glasgow. Officially opened by transport minister Humza Yousaf on 27th August 2017, the park was created from 15 ha (37 acres) of derelict land at Cuningar by Forestry Commission Scotland, in partnership with Glasgow City Council. The £9.3-million development was part of the legacy from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (2014). The park lies across the river from the Commonwealth Games Athletes' Village at Dalmarnock. The entrance from the north is via the Cuningar Loop Pedestrian Footbridge, with a second entrance via a newly improved access road from the southwest.
With emphasis on health, fitness and sustainability, the park includes 15,000 newly-planted trees and shrubs, an extensive path network, adventure play facilities, a bike skills area, Scotland's first outdoor bouldering park, a woodland workout area, large meadow with picnic areas, an outdoor classroom, and a riverside boardwalk.
The project won the Community Award at the Saltire Civil Engineering Awards of 2017, while the bouldering park was highly commended at the Concrete Society Awards in 2015.
The development of Cuningar Loop was a major civil engineering challenge, as the site had previously been used for a reservoir, as a quarry, an illegal mine and as a landfill site for rubble from the demolition of the Gorbals slums. Thus, it required considerable remediation, new accesses and restoration of the growing medium to be able to support a safe and accessible woodland park.
