Building a Greener Future

We are running a series of community-led urban greening projects across our regeneration estates. Working with partners like Urban Growth and Sustainable Merton, we have run a number of planting days, ‘balcony greening’ workshop sessions, tree planting days, community garden installations and gardening clubs.

In summer 2022 we piloted a ‘balcony greening’ project at High Path in partnership with Sustainable Merton. The aim was to encourage Clarion residents moving into new homes on the estate to plant up their balconies, with the aim of ‘greening up’ the estate, improving air quality, encouraging biodiversity and promoting engagement with nature. This project acted as a pilot that we will replicate in other neighbourhoods undergoing regeneration.

We ran two resident planting days on High Path in June and October 2022. In the first, residents planted up large rectangular wooden planters with a selection of plants. They were given a choice of four themes: herbs, wildlife friendly, edible or ornamental. Residents chose a range, but the wildlife friendly selection was the most popular. In the second session, residents returned to plant up terracotta planters with layered bulbs for the autumn. The sessions were extremely popular among residents of all ages, and the results are still visible on balconies at High Path.

In summer 2023, we installed a new community garden at Eastfields. With residents help, we built 8 large raised beds in the central green, to grow edible plants as well as ornamental. One resident painted a beautiful sign for the garden. The garden will be managed by a residents monthly gardening club, lead by professional gardeners at Urban Growth.

A similar scheme has just got underway at our Sherwood Close, Ealing site. We have a number of other greening projects in the works, all community-lead and estate-based. Watch this space.