Westminster based charity Vital Regeneration partnered up with British Land to give the Lisson Green Estate in Westminster a fabulous makeover.

A group of British Land staff volunteered their time with the charity to revamp a shared garden within a sheltered housing project for elderly Westminster residents.

Alice Boswell from British Land said: ‘We all had the most fantastic day.  It was a great opportunity for us to get out of the office and do something different, with the added advantage of working for the residents at Lisson Green.  We hope that the plants take (at least there is no need for watering!) and that we will be back to see them soon.’

Lisson Green is a social housing estate in the heart of Church Street Ward, one of the most disadvantaged areas in Westminster. 

Despite the wet weather the volunteers grafted all morning to transform the dull garden into a vibrant, clean and refreshing area for the residents to spend their summer afternoons. 

The new garden was carefully designed by Landscape Architect, Marcus Barnett, who kindly donated his time and expertise at no cost.  His design intent was to make the new garden aesthetically pleasing, cost effective and manageable for the elderly residents to look after.

The volunteers from British Land helped to plant a series of carefully selected perennial plants which were carefully planted in hanging baskets, purpose built raised flower beds and planters. 

They pulled out all the stops to help make sure the 12 cubic metres of soil were utilised, previous concrete planters were moved and replanted and the whole garden area was swept of moss and debris.

By the end of the day the team effort had made the whole garden a much more pleasurable place for residents to spend their time in.

Emma Rembalski, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Vital Regeneration said: “We are so pleased with how the day went.  It was great to work with British Land on such an important local project.  The residents were absolutely delighted with their new garden.  They are now just waiting patiently for the British Summer to arrive so that they can really make the most of it”. 

 
Notes to editors

For press enquiries, images and interviews please contact: rash@vitalregen.org

About Vital Regeneration

Vital Regeneration is a registered charity working to transform London's most deprived neighbourhoods.  They focus most of their work in Westminster where they develop social, environmental and economic programmes.  Their vision is for everyone to have equal expectations and opportunities in life and not to be seriously disadvantaged by where they live.

Vital Regeneration works in partnership with businesses like British Land to help them achieve their Corporate Social Responsibility targets.  For more information on working with Vital Regeneration in this way please contact our Corporate Partnerships Manager, Emma Rembalski on; erembalski@vitalregeneration.co.uk