Slade Gardens Adventure Playground

We partnered with this much-loved adventure playground to renovate and reopen its large food growing space, so that local kids’ play could get wilder and greener. The project was made possible by funding from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund program and the Trust for London. And we couldn’t have done it without the hundreds of corporate volunteers who got muddy with us over the course of the year long project.
We were also delighted to host local organisations who provide specialist support to vulnerable groups such as ethnic minority women and girls, children and adults with learning disabilities, as well as summer youth clubs.
It was also a rare opportunity to work with beehives on site, to which we added a large pond and polytunnel, to give the garden a full range of infrastructure for the benefit of biodiversity and food growing.

Summary

Year: 2019 - 20

Client: Mayor of London, Trust for London, Slade Adventure Playground

Duration: 18 months

Purpose: Refurbish a neglected food growing space in a popular adventure playground, making it safe for use and bringing back groups to engage with the unique green space including the beehives.

The site had been fenced off from the main area for a long time. It was unsafe and totally overgrown.
We had to break down and replace all the raised beds, and remove all the walkways. Much of the fence had to be rebuilt as well.
The bees were very lonely behind this fence, hidden away and with no opportunities to inform or inspire local people to protect pollinators and wonder at their magical work.
We enlisted the help of hundreds of volunteers from companies across London.
There was plenty of digging, lifting and shifting to keep everyone warm, no matter the weather.
We ordered in hundreds of metres of timber to build new raised beds, and taught people some carpentry skills in the process.
And we also brought in truckloads of fresh compost to get the growing off to a strong start.
Once the site was safe, we could invite a huge range of groups to participate in the growing and harvesting.
After a few months, we could host cooking sessions with the fruits of our harvest.
We delivered a pasta-themed autumn harvest festival for local children.
And our specialist facilitators designed workshops for adults with learning disabilities, to offer them the therapeutic power of getting dirt under the fingernails.
We also worked with the Baytree Centre, who specialise in supporting women from vulnerable backgrounds.

Slade Gardens Adventure Playground

Summary

The site had been fenced off from the main area for a long time. It was unsafe and totally overgrown.

We had to break down and replace all the raised beds, and remove all the walkways. Much of the fence had to be rebuilt as well.

The bees were very lonely behind this fence, hidden away and with no opportunities to inform or inspire local people to protect pollinators and wonder at their magical work.

We enlisted the help of hundreds of volunteers from companies across London.

There was plenty of digging, lifting and shifting to keep everyone warm, no matter the weather.

We ordered in hundreds of metres of timber to build new raised beds, and taught people some carpentry skills in the process.

And we also brought in truckloads of fresh compost to get the growing off to a strong start.

Once the site was safe, we could invite a huge range of groups to participate in the growing and harvesting.

After a few months, we could host cooking sessions with the fruits of our harvest.

We delivered a pasta-themed autumn harvest festival for local children.

And our specialist facilitators designed workshops for adults with learning disabilities, to offer them the therapeutic power of getting dirt under the fingernails.

We also worked with the Baytree Centre, who specialise in supporting women from vulnerable backgrounds.

Urban Growth Learning Gardens