Groundwork in London Impact Report 2016

GROUNDWORK IN LONDON

CREATING BETTER PLACES IN LONDON In the last year we worked alongside 11,000 Londoners and hundreds of public and corporate partners to create or improve public parks, playgrounds, housing estates, community gardens, nature reserves and many more places that matter to them.

Designing a Resilient City

Our award winning Landscape Architects specialise in Water Sensitive Urban Design, an integrated solution addressing the increasing seasonal threat of urban flooding, drought and pollution.

Last year, working in partnership with Hammersmith and Fulham Council, we created a network of retrofitted Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) on housing estates in the borough, as part of our ‘Climate Proofing Social Housing Landscapes’ project. The project has become an exemplar model in the UK and Europe, demonstrating how affordable climate adaptation measures can be effectively retrofitted into existing social housing landscapes. We received the College of Fellows’ Award for Climate Change Adaptation for this project at the Landscape Institute Awards 2016. Discover more at: www.urbanclimateproofing.london Last year alone we implemented SUDS which are serving as drainage for 2250m2 of roads, pavements, roofs and other hard surfaces. These measures, which included over 430m2 of green roofs, diverted 800,000 litres of rainwater from the overstretched sewer system into green infrastructure, significantly reducing the threats of flooding and pollution.1

Improving Public Open Spaces

We improve and create hundreds of urban gardening, food growing and other community open spaces in London each year. From one-off, small ‘pocket parks’ to large programmes of community-led open space improvements delivered in partnership with Local Authorities or Housing Associations. For the 1

second year, we have continued to deliver a packed programme of training and activities with the local community at Mobile Garden City. This thriving community garden was designed to be relocated in pre-development sites in and around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. In 2017 the garden will be relocated for the first time to a new site close to Hackney Wick.

This hugely successful collaboration with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), Our Parklife and Public Works was Highly Commended at the Landscape Institute Awards 2016.

Last year, in partnership with community energy specialists Repowering London and Transport for London (TfL), we worked alongside over 1400 residents, commuters, station staff and school children to develop and design ‘Energy Gardens’ on the London Overground network. This unique project, which brings together urban growing and renewable energy, will result in 35 new ‘Energy Gardens’ being created by March 2017.

Enabling Community Action

We manage a range of environmental and community grant schemes on behalf of our national and regional partners. Through these schemes, we’re proud to be able to support thousands of Londoners every year to make a real difference in their communities. Last year we awarded close to £1.5 million to groups in London who used their grants to transform forgotten places, plant thousands of trees and to realise life changing projects across the capital.

In 2015 Groundwork was asked to administer Tesco’s Bags of Help community grants throughout the UK. Last year in London the scheme funded 93 projects to the sum of £930,000. The projects all improved public open spaces in London, but many also involved training volunteers, hosting community events and promoting sports and leisure activities.

For the fourth year, we managed The Mayor of London’s Capital Clean-up Campaign, mobilising over 4,600 volunteers to spruce up 230 of London’s most neglected open spaces and waterways.

We’re also thrilled to be supporting community groups throughout the capital to deliver some truly inspirational community cycling projects, through Cycling Grants London. Last year we awarded 31 cycling projects a total of £134,296 on behalf of TfL. In 2016, all three finalists in the London Cycling Awards 2016 were recipients of the grant. Discover more at: www.cyclinggrants.london 1 Evaluated

by The Sustainability Research Institute at The University of East London.

Climate Proofing Social Housing Landscapes

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GREENER LIVING & WORKING IN LONDON Global environmental and economic challenges impact first and worst on the people and communities that have the least. We believe that tackling social inequality requires everyone, everywhere to live and work smarter and more sustainably.

Helping people keep well and warm

As the cost of living in London continues to rise, fuel poverty is affecting more Londoners than ever before, which impacts most on the health and wellbeing of the city’s most vulnerable residents. Our home energy advisors, ‘Green Doctors’, advised over 4,800 households in London last year on how to take practical steps to increase the warmth and comfort of their home and save resources and money. As a result, the households they visited last year collectively saved £85,000.

Saving water, energy and money with Thames Water

As part of our Thames Water Customer Engagement programme, last year our Smarter Home Visit Advisors visited over 29,000 households. Through offering practical advice and installing over 128,000 water efficiency measures in Greater London, we helped these households save £9m by reducing their water usage collectively by almost 4 million litres. On average each household saved over £300, a saving that households will continue to make year on year.

Closing the loop on London’s housing estates

Working in partnership with the Local Authorities and Housing Associations, last year we transformed five disused spaces into thriving community reuse workshops on housing estates in Hackney, Barnet, Islington, Southwark and Hammersmith and Fulham.

At ‘The Loops’, as they are known, a team of staff and volunteers oversee the collection of unwanted furniture and household appliances from resident’s homes, and fly-tipping hotspots on the estates.

Where possible, they refurbish them and sell them on 3

to residents, giving new life to hundreds of items that would otherwise have been destined for landfill. The funds generated from the resale of goods allow us to provide on-going training to residents in a multitude of skills, including furniture up-cycling and restoration.

Discover more at www.theloops.london

The Loop @ Pembury Estate

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IMPROVING PEOPLE’S PROSPECTS IN LONDON London is a tough place to be unemployed, especially for those without skills, qualifications or relevant experience. That’s why, in partnership with our private and public sector employers, we deliver training and pre-employment programmes designed to increase the confidence, skills and overall employability of Londoners who are facing the greatest barriers to employment.

Our programmes target young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), those at risk of becoming NEET, lone parents, the longterm unemployed and ex-offenders, often within specific boroughs. Last year our employment advisors engaged with 700 individuals and delivered 1,200 weeks of formal training to more than 300 people. We supported our clients to gain over 600 qualifications and 200 of them have progressed into sustainable employment.

Delivering Social Value

1-2-1 mentoring with each young person over a 26 week structured programme. Over 90% of the young people who worked with our Achievement Coaches last year improved their attitude to learning and were still attending school by the end of the programme.

Last year we launched a version of this programme in Newham that supports and helps build resilience in vulnerable children transitioning from primary to secondary schools.

Green Teams: Changing Places & Lives

Our strength lies in tailoring our pre-employment support and training to each role, ensuring candidates are well prepared and have the skills and confidence to succeed. We do this through offering a package of advice and guidance; informal and accredited training in employability, Maths and English; and industry standard vocational training.

We continue to deliver our waged horticultural training programmes that support young people to gain experience and qualifications in horticulture and grounds maintenance. Last year 21 new Green Team trainees successfully completed the 26 week training programme, working in eight London boroughs.

Our trainees have also played a significant role in implementing and maintaining SUDS in Hammersmith and Fulham, as part of our ‘Climate Proofing Social Housing Landscapes’ project. This has equipped them for careers in a sector that will demand these specialist skills, as sustainable urban drainage becomes mainstreamed in London’s parks and open spaces.

Achievement Coaches

REWORK

Our employment and training programmes offer significant social value to private and public sector employers, enabling them to offer local employment opportunities in a whole host of vocational areas.

Our Achievement Coaches programme places skilled youth coaches into schools to support individual pupils to fulfil their potential and avoid leaving school without any qualifications. Last year our Achievement Coaches worked with 170 young people in years 10 and 11 who were identified by their schools to be most at risk of exclusion or dropping out of education. They spend an average of 30 hours in 5

In Wandsworth we run one of the best-equipped domestic appliance repair workshops in the country, where our trainees refurbish household electrical goods and furniture for resale through charity retailers, online and in our REWORK shop in Croydon. Last year our 29 paid trainees refurbished and sold over 4500 domestic white goods and 2700 items of furniture.

Meryem with Achievement Coach, Kim

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www.groundwork.org.uk/london For more information on any of our programmes or services, please contact: london@groundwork.org.uk / 020 7278 1514 @GroundworkLON facebook.com/GroundworkLondon

Groundwork London is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.

Registered Office: 18-21 Morley Street, London, SE1 7QZ Company Registration No: 04212532 Charity Registration No: 1121105

St John’s Playground, Hoxton