You may have seen our hanging baskets, trees and
plant tubs throughout the area, brightening up our streets and making for
a more pleasant environment for locals and visitors alike. However, since our conception in 2006 we've undertaken some significant urban greening projects - some of which have
involved world-renowned designers.
For the maintenance of many of our green spaces we use Putting Down Roots (PDR) as our contractor. PDR is an initiative of homelessness charity St Mungo's that provides valuable horticultural training for their clients and helps them back in to full-time employment. It's a hugely successful relationship and one that adds a significant social element to our greening work.
Project: Greenwood Theatre
Pocket Park
Status: Complete
Timing: March 2015
Location: Weston Street
A
celebrity creative collaboration bringing together the worlds of fashion
and garden design has transformed this theatre in London Bridge into an
urban oasis. World renowned British fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes
teamed up with garden designer and TV presenter Joe Swift to create a linear
‘pocket park’ at the Greenwood Theatre on Weston Street, London Bridge, in SE1.
The
Theatre’s new facade and adjacent planting not only dramatically improves the
streetscape but reduces flooding, provides seating, increases biodiversity and
makes the theatre appeal to a much wider audience.
Organised and part-funded by Team London Bridge,
other contributors included Cityscapes, King's College London, Network Rail and
The Mayor of London's Pocket Parks Programme.
Greenwood Theatre summer 2014 and 2017
Project: Gibbon's Rent
Status: Complete
Timing: May-June 2012 (3 weeks)
Location: Gibbon's Rent
Team London Bridge working with The Architecture Foundation and Southwark Council have transformed a long forgotten cut through from Magdalen Street to Bermondsey Street known as Gibbon's Rent.
Designed by emerging Australian architect Andrew Burns and award-winning landscape architect Sarah Eberle Gibbon's Rent has been transformed into a permanent shared green space for all to enjoy.
The project aims to raise awareness of this forgotten piece of Southwark and to contribute to the longer-term social and economic improvement of the area. It looks to actively encourage community participation asking local businesses and residents to contribute potted plants to the garden allowing it to grow and evolve, taking on a life of its own past its launch in summer 2012. Maintenance will take place throughout the summer on Tuesday and Thursday lunchtimes run by St Mungo's Putting Down Roots.
Gibbons Rent in 2011 and 2017
Project: Guy's Hospital, St Thomas Street
Status: Complete
Timing: 2018
This 160sqm space along St Thomas Street belonging to Guy’s Hospital was an opportunity identified in our recent Green Grid strategy which now adds more life to the public realm around The Shard, hospital and London Bridge station.
The 1,247 plants were all chosen for their ability to withstand shaded growing conditions, increase biodiversity, serve as a food source for pollinators and provide year-round aesthetic interest. These included tiarellas, dogwoods, hellebores, astilbes, brunneras, skimmias and liriopes whilst sarcococca and trachelospermum were planted at the hospital’s Southwark & Bermondsey Wing entrance for their attractive scent.
Project: Community Gardening
Status: Ongoing
Timing: 2012 - Present
Our funding of improvement and maintenance works to the communal gardens of the Whites Grounds, Tyers and Tabard North residential estates and Snowsfields Primary School - all of which adjoin our BID boundary - is part of our commitment not only to 'greening' the general area, but also to forging links between our businesses and the wider community.
The results of our work have been transformational: once just municipal lawn, the spaces are now fully functional communal gardens with colourful borders, allotments, fruit trees, public art, a rain garden and wildflower meadows. What's more, use and enjoyment of the space by the residents and children has increased markedly. Much of this physical change came about in 2014 when Alan Titchmarsh donated 1100 plants used in his Chelsea Flower Show garden; in May 2017 when herbal foods company donated raised planters for the school allotment; and again in June 2017 when luxury travel company Belmond donated plants from their RHS Chatsworthh Flower Show garden.
Once a month throughout spring and summer we hold gardening workshops where local residents and school children are invited to take part in the maintenance work and learn horticultural skills from the Putting Down Roots staff.
Project: Melior Street Garden
Status: Complete
Timing: May 2009
Location: Melior Street
Awarded-winning local architects Cracknell were
appointed by Team London Bridge to re-design this under-used public space that
was afflicted with issues of anti-social behaviour and street-drinking.
The 500sqm site next to the Horseshoe Inn pub on
Melior Street is now not only a mature public garden but it also functions as a
working allotment. The space is maintained by Putting Down Roots, a horticultural
of initiative of homelessness charity St Mungo’s Broadway. The produce grown
here is sold to the Table Café in nearby Southwark Street or donated to local homeless day centre, the Manna Centre.
Each year the garden hosts our annual al-fresco 'Dinner From Our Back Garden' event where we celebrate the space and the hugely successful relationships between Team London Bridge, St Mungo's Broadway, The Table Cafe and the wider business community.
Team London Bridge contributed £70,000 towards the
project with the remaining £50,000 coming from Southwark Council’s ‘Cleaner,
Greener, Safer’ fund.
Melior Street Garden in 2009 and 2014
Project: Street Planting
Status: Ongoing
Timing: 2008 - Present
Location: Throughout the BID area
Project: In Bloom Awards
Status: Annual
Timing: June - August
The community and Team London Bridge are rightly proud of their greening efforts over the past few years. The RHS London in Bloom and Britain in Bloom competitions have given the area the chance to gain recognition for a range of horticultural projects.
Awards to date:
- 2018 - London in Bloom Gold and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2017 - Britain in Bloom Gold
- 2017 - London in Bloom Gold
- 2016 - London in Bloom Gold and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2015 - Britain in Bloom Silver Gilt and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2015 - London in Bloom Silver Gilt and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2014 - London in Bloom Gold and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2014 - Britain in Bloom Silver and Environment Award
- 2013 - London in Bloom Silver Gilt
- 2012 - Britain in Bloom Silver Gilt
- 2012 - London in Bloom Silver Gilt and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2011 - London in Bloom Silver Gilt and winner of Business Improvement District category
- 2010 - London in Bloom Silver Gilt
- 2009 - Londno in Bloom Silver Gilt
Project: Green Infrastructure Audit
Status: Complete
Timing: August 2012
In 2012 Team London Bridge (TLB) commissioned a Green Infrastructure (GI) Audit of the Business Improvement District (BID). This was one of eleven audits undertaken as part of the ‘Greening the BIDs’ project, funded by the Greater London Authority working closely with Cross River Partnership. The GI audits enable BIDs / employer partnerships to identify and realise opportunities to increase green cover across central London.
Green Infrastructure (GI) represents an approach to land use that has a critical role in meeting many of the social, environmental and economic challenges we face today. It achieves this through its multifunctional and connected nature and is underpinned by the concept of ‘ecosystem services’, an approach which recognises the many benefits that are generated by natural ecosystems, including flood alleviation, climate adaptation, visual enhancement, recreation, biodiversity and food production.
To read the 12 point GI Plan summary click here.