Apogeo, commercial theme by Consorzio Creativo

Following on from our last post relating to GEML ‘Grow it, Eat it, Move it, Live it’, dated 11.05.10 and the potential of The GROWSPACE project at the Civic Centre Estate in Ladywood, we are very pleased to report that just over a year on from the initial idea of creating a community garden at the base of the tower blocks on public land, a new garden has been formed and on a gloriously sunny weekend the Lord Mayor of Birmingham formally opened the new community ‘Growspace’ for the residents of Civic Centre. [09.04.2011].

 

This is a real tribute to the hard work of Civic Centre Residents’ Committee and all those that have pulled together to make the Growspace a reality, however, particular recognition should go to the Chair of the Committee, namely Jean Varney, who has worked tirelessly to improve the estate and to bring the community together. Also a special thank you to the team at the Big Lottery Fund for providing the majority of the finance.

 

Is this Cameron’s Big Society in action, you decide?

 

Briefing Note:

Background

The Civic Centre estate comprises four high rise tower blocks and one level of townhouses in the heart of Birmingham City centre, adjacent to the International  Convention Centre, Symphony Hall and the new library now under construction by Carillion Plc.

The Estate is owned and managed by Birmingham City Council (BCC), with just under 50% of the flats now in private ownership following the right to buy.

As previously mentioned it was just over a year ago, at a meeting of the Civic Centre Residents’ Association Committee (CCRAC) that the residents gave consideration to a new garden area for growing their own fruit and vegetables on the estate for their own consumption. The Housing Department of BCC was consulted and they asked the Committee to ascertain the level of interest from the residents and to identify a possible location for the Growspace.

First meeting on site 11 march, 2010 with Peter Short Constituency Parks Manager,  Parks & Nature Conservation from Birmingham City Council and residents from Civic Close to discuss the possibility of a community garden and the proposed location adjacent to Norton Tower.

 

During a meeting with Birmingham Parks and Gardens Department,  the question of fruit and vegetables growing at Civic Centre was raised, and Peter Short, Constituency Parks Manager (centre in above photo) told the Committee that the Council had a department especially for encouraging community gardens. Peter put the Committee in contact with Ms Debbie Jones, the GEML coordinator and to Mr Robin Bryan of the Parks and Gardens Department, both of whom have provided guidance to help move the growspace towards reality.

Members of the Residents Committee agreed to take on direct roles to help move the project forward and the Community was asked, by newsletter and by a Clipboard Check List if they were interested in the proposed scheme, and enough positive replies came to justify it. A number of residents asked to be able to grow fruit and vegetables on the proposed site, and agreed to organise the actual garden and gardening and Jean Varney agreed to seek funding, materials, etc.

During the summer of 2010 meetings were held with the potential gardeners  to discuss what they needed and to plan the garden area. There were many meetings with Ms Debbie Jones, resulting in Ms Jones encouraging and helping Jean y to apply for a Big Lottery Fund Grant. For this, detailed scale plans, provided by APEC Architects at no cost, budgets, and sourcing of potential materials and labour had to be made and, though this  involved detailed work, including visits to possible suppliers, it was all done by the middle of October.

Jean Varney, Chair of the CCRA submitted a request to the Big Lottery Fund to cover the cost of materials for building the raised beds, fencing and for tools, etc., needed to create the garden. The grant was agreed by the Big Lottery and a cheque was received in early January 2011. Materials were then ordered to build raised bed material, composters, a soft fruits area, a herb garden and a fence with gates around the whole area to define the garden area.

Labour

Ms Debbie Jones provided a team of young persons on a City of Birmingham Future Jobs Fund trainee programme for six weeks to erect the whole complex of raised beds and move the soil and wood chippings, delivered by scaffold services and organised by Willmott Dixon this project gave them experience they had not had previously. They were directed by their Mentor, Mr Lee Herrington who was of great assistance and back up. Before the team could work on the construction of the garden an induction programme had to be completed, followed by two training days.

Ashleigh, one of the Future Jobs Fund workers gives his opinion on the experience of working on the Civic Centre garden

 

 

 

 

The works started on 28th February 2011 as the wood for the raised beds and 100 tons of top soil arrived. John Seal of Archwood Greenhouses, the supplier of the timber, came up from Ross on Wye for four days to help the team and guide them on how to construct the raised beds on a sloping site.

Even though the Big Lottery Fund provided a grant covering the majority of the cost, Carillion, the contractor of the new Library of Birmingham provided huge support with materials, labour and the provision of meeting space in their project site office.

The topsoil was actually organised internally within Carillion as it came from another local project, a Wolverhampton BSF (Building Schools for the Future) project in Wednesfield, where works coincided perfectly that their existing playing field was being stripped of the turf and soil, to make way for construction of the new school building to commence, in the same weeks that it was required for the grow area. This saved considerable transport and other environmental impacts associated with bringing in new material from further a field or from a fresh source. In total 100 tonnes of soil were required; this kind of quantity of soil would have a monetary value of c£3000.

Carillion also organised some of their subcontractors, namely Hoard-It, who erected much of the construction site compound fencing, and provided approximately 40 hours of labour and some fixing materials free of charge to erect 80m of timber picket fence. The fence enclosed the area for the residents to use and has defined the area well, providing a sense of demarcation around the raised beds. The Hoard-It team were enthused by giving something back to the community, having worked on the new library project since the enablement works commenced on Centenary Square in 2009.

 

 

Marlborough, a brickwork contractor working on the library site, donated a number of concrete blocks. These have been arranged to form a ‘herb swirl’, forming an attractive feature when fully planted. Some concrete for fixing supports was also supplied by Morrisroe, the frame works contractor building the main concrete frame for the new library, and Lyndon Scaffolding have plans to  provide a secure lock up for the tools to be stored.

 

Simon Dingle, Operations Manger at Carillion  said, “The transformation of the area is remarkable and is a great example of what teamwork and good communications can achieve for the benefit of the community.

It is a credit to Jean Varney of the residents association for organising this, without her none of this would have been possible”

 

Carillion’s, Michael Winhall, Sustainability Manager talks about the Company’s involvement in helping the residents create the Growspace.

 

 

 

 

The opening of the GROWSPACE is only just the beginning for community cohesion. The hope is that the new garden area will encourage residents to come together to not only grow fruit and vegetables, but to help each other to grow as a community.

A selection of pics from the civic Centre Growspace opening on 9th April, 2011.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOTE: A thank you to Jean and Maurice Varney, Michael Winhall and other residents for contributions to this post.

More to follow:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related posts:

1. Civic Centre Residents’ Association and Birmingham Social Investment Trust Residents Survey Results & Recommendations :Oct 2010.
2. Civic Centre Residents' Association (CCRA) – Blog Notice Board goes Live.
3. Help reduce digital exclusion – Join Race Online 2012 Now!
4. BIG SOCIETY in Action : Iain Duncan Smith meets with Willmott Dixon and Trustees of Birmingham Social Investment Trust
5. Balsall Heath Social Media Surgery – 'Community Empowerment'