Romford Pocket Parks
Making Our Home Better Together
CLIENT
Romford Business Improvement District
The Covid-19 pandemic showed that when facing tough times, people will pull together to make life better for their neighbours. But would that continue once things returned to normal? Romford Pocket Parks was an innovative co-creation project that set out to prove that community spirit was alive and well – if people are just given the opportunity to step up.
Supported by funding from the Mayor of London’s ‘Make London’ initiative in partnership with Romford BID, communities in Romford were asked to co-fund, co-design and co-create pocket parks across seven locations of the town.
A crowdfunding campaign raised a whopping £85,000 for the project. Working alongside the award-winning landscape designers Wayward, we delivered 18 workshops engaging over 350 local residents in developing ideas and locations for the pocket parks.
Communities then got stuck in and got their hands dirty, providing 86 hours of volunteering to install 92 sqm of greening and growing space and 78 sqm of wider public realm improvements. The pocket parks were launched with an event of workshops, live entertainment and a community plant giveaway. A trail map was released giving people a guide to the pocket parks, as well as information on a multitude of green initiatives and eco-friendly businesses in the town.
We were over the moon as a town when our efforts were recognised as winners of London in Bloom 2022 and Britain in Bloom 2023!
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