Groundwork in London

GROUNDWORK IN LONDON

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roundwork helps communities find practical solutions to the challenges they face. Big issues like the economy and the environment can have a big local impact and especially so in a global city like London. Our work makes London a greener, healthier, safer place to live and helps Londoners to improve their prospects and thrive.

Last year we delivered over 500 projects alongside our public, corporate and community partners in some of London’s most disadvantaged communities. In 2014 we continued to expand the areas of our work that address the most pressing needs of Londoners, including our employment skills and training initiatives for young people and our Green Doctor resource efficiency advice and support model, helping people to keep warm, stay healthy and save money.

We have had success in building many more partnerships with the private sector, inviting them to demonstrate their commitment to London by giving time, resources or money to benefit many of our local projects. These partnerships continue to generate significant additional income and resources for much-needed green space investment in a climate of reduced public funding.

Last year our partnerships with 19 businesses generated an additional ÂŁ200,000 income for our projects and programmes.

Alan Smith, Chair of the Board of Trustees Lindy Kelly, Executive Director

CREATING BETTER PLACES IN LONDON

We’re on a mission to make London greener,. cleaner, safer and more resilient, improving. the health and wellbeing of all Londoners..

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n the last year we’ve worked alongside 12,000 Londoners, including 5,000 children and young people, to create or improve parks, play areas, housing estates, community allotments, nature reserves and many other public open spaces that matter to them.

Leading the urban food growing revolution Our urban food growing projects have continued to thrive, improving the quality of life for thousands of people in the many communities that have embraced them.

Last year we celebrated the end of our Transform Edible East programme that allowed us support 20 communities in east London to establish their own food growing sites. We also embarked on two new programmes, Edible Lambeth and Cultivating Kensington & Chelsea, for which we are supporting residents to set up a social enterprise in order to sustain their ‘kitchen gardens’.

Empowering and enabling communities to take action In 2014 we managed a number of grant schemes on behalf of our national and regional partners. These schemes enable community groups to fund the projects that transform the places closest to their hearts, in the corners of London they call home. The Mayor of London’s RE:LEAF Street Trees Programme and Community Grants Scheme, together with DEFRA’s

The Big Tree Plant resulted in over 27,000 new trees being planted in the capital last year. For the second year we were the lead partner in the Mayor of London’s Capital Clean-up Campaign supported by McDonalds, engaging over 1,400 volunteers in nearly 150 clean up activities benefiting some of London’s most neglected open spaces and waterways.

Landscape design for a resilient city Our team of Landscape Institute accredited Landscape Architects specialise in Water Sensitive Urban Design, an integrated solution to the increasing threat of flooding, drought and pollution in our capital. Last year we embarked on an ambitious three-year climate change adaptation project taking place on three housing estates in west London. In partnership with The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham we secured £1.3m for this initiative from the highly competitive EU LIFE+ programme. The scheme will involve the creation of rain gardens, living green roofs, new food growing areas and the planting of 600 trees. The redesigned green spaces will help moderate building temperatures, increase biodiversity and absorb flood water, reducing the volume reaching London’s overstretched drainage system.

GREENER LIVING & WORKING IN LONDON

We help people and businesses to take control and make changes that deliver practical and financial benefits now and sow the seeds of a more sustainable future.

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lobal environmental challenges impact first and worst on those people and communities that have least. Addressing these challenges successfully requires people everywhere to live and work smarter and more sustainably.

Affordable warmth in tough times As energy prices and the cost of living both continue to rise, fuel poverty is affecting more Londoners than ever before, which is directly impacting on the health of the most vulnerable.

Our Green Doctors help people take practical steps to increase the warmth and comfort of their home. The service includes arranging simple home energy efficiency improvements and offering free stay warm packs to residents. They also ensure households are getting all the financial support they’re entitled to, including energy saving grants and warm homes discounts. The high level of training our Green Doctors receive along with our unique multi-agency approach makes it possible for them to also respond to a range of health and well-being issues during a home visit, making referrals to health care professionals when necessary.

In February 2014 our Manor House Green Doctor scheme, in partnership with Manor House Pact was awarded a National Energy Action Community Action Award for tackling fuel poverty. We received the

award from Edward Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he visited our Manor House PACT Energy Advisors project to meet our Green Doctors and some of the residents who have benefited from the scheme.

Last year across London our Green Doctors helped over 3,800 households to keep warm, stay well and save money.

For more information please contact greendoctorldn@groundwork.org.uk

A new focus on water efficiency in the home Expanding our Greener Living and Working portfolio further, last year we began working with Thames Water in Bexley providing tailored water efficiency advice to 1000 households ahead of water meters being installed in their homes for the first time. This pilot scheme proved highly successful with 92% of Thames Water customers reporting that the service will help them save water at home.

Another bumper year for Chelsea REUSE Once again we managed the Chelsea REUSE operation at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May. After the show closed its doors to the public our dedicated team of staff, partners and volunteers swung into action recycling over 100 tonnes of landscaping material and re-homing over 9,000 plants in over 20 community projects in London.

IMPROVING PEOPLE’S PROSPECTS IN LONDON

We help people aquire the skills and_ qualifications they need to improve_ their employment prospects._

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ondon is a tough place to be unemployed, especially for young people without skills or qualifications.

That’s why we continue to deliver skills and training initiatives to increase the confidence, skills and employability of those furthest removed from the labour market and in particular young people.

We design and deliver bespoke initiatives that specifically target those young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), those at risk of becoming NEET and the long-term unemployed. Last year we expanded the delivery of these services to support unemployed people in Croydon, Hammersmith & Fulham, Islington, and Lambeth in addition to the eight other London Boroughs we continue to work in.

New jobs from old appliances In Wandsworth we run one of the bestequipped domestic appliance repair workshops in the country, where our skilled engineers and trainees refurbish washing machines, fridges, cookers, microwaves and other household electrical goods that would otherwise have been scrapped, recycled or sent to landfill.

Last year we opened a second REWORK workshop in Greenford, enabling us to take on more engineers and trainees. We now have the capacity to refurbish more GET IN TOUCH & SUPPORT OUR WORK london@groundwork.org.uk @GroundworkLON www.facebook.com/groundworklondon

appliances than ever before, extending the useful life of these goods by years. In the last year we’ve branched into upcycling in our furniture workshop, offering training in restoration and upcycling. For more information visit www.reworklondon.org

One-to-one mentoring when it’s needed most Our Achievement Coaches work with young people deemed most at risk of exclusion or dropping out of education.

Last year they provided structured mentoring to young people in years 10 and 11, in fourteen secondary schools, supporting them to stay in school and take their GCSEs. Over 80% of the 200 young people who took part in this programme last year improved their attendance and remained in school education.

Green Teams: a winning formula Green Teams are waged horticultural training programmes that enable young people to gain horticultural skills and qualifications and ultimately get back into work. This year 90% of our horticultural apprentices who graduated went on to secure longer-term employment and one of them, Natalie Meredith, was named UK Horticultural Apprentice of the Year at annual BALI awards (British Association of Landscape Industries).

All impact data relates to the financial year 2013/14

www.groundwork.org.uk/london Charity Registration No: 1121105 Company Registration No: 04212532