Community roof garden sprouts from a Big Lunch!

August 3, 2012

Author: Trudi Holden

Plymouth Community Homes and Morley Court Residents association, have teamed up with the Eden Project on a new roof garden project to create an exciting space for residents; using the fun of The Big Lunch to find out exactly what the residents want for their new space.

The aim of the project is to transform a paved area on top of a car park in the middle of the City, into a vibrant, green oasis; improving people’s quality of life and providing a focal point for the community. Eden’s Resilient Communities Team has been working with residents to understand the different ways in which they plan to use the garden and make sure that their ideas are integrated into the final design.

In April, they held a “secret garden party”, where residents had a go at a variety of activities, including den building,games and banner making; while discussing their plans for the space. Jodie Giles, Resilient Communities Coordinator at Eden, said:

“The party was a great success. Not only did a lot of the residents of Morley Court join us for fun and games, but we had lots of suggestions to help make this a useful, creative space for the community.”

The residents’ ideas were collected through photography, film, postcards and model making. Jane Knight from Eden’s Landscape Team, then used all this information to inspire the design of the garden for the community and produced some drafts for everyone to feedback on.

Rather than organising another stand-alone event, or a boring meeting, planners then went along to the residents Big Lunch; where people were already out having fun and chatting to each other. The community were really happy by the initial plans drawn up and are now eager to see the final drafts; soon to blossom into a beautiful garden for all!

This project demonstrates that consultation need not be dull and difficult and that real community engagement can be done in a fun way. Whether it’s hosting a specific day, like the secret garden party or joining in with an existing community event like The Big Lunch. This way you are guaranteed a great turnout and can contribute to a fun and all-inclusive event, rather than fret about organising the whole thing from scratch!

If your Big Lunch made a Big impact in your community this year, we’d love to hear about it! email yourstories@thebiglunch.com to tell us all about it.