Towering plant colossus makes a stand for homeless people at Chelsea's biggest garden

A giant man made of hundreds of healing plants is taking shape as part of the largest garden for the forthcoming RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2010.

More than 300 homeless and disadvantaged people from across the country are now preparing detailed plans for the “Places of Change” Garden, the biggest-ever show garden in the history of the world-famous event.

Among the creative concepts already being developed is the towering “planted man” figure being made up of medicinal plants grown in the precise bodily regions to which they bring benefit.

The novel idea was suggested by Lucy Fleming, a project worker at Stonham, a supported housing provider. The framework is now being devised and the plants are being researched, selected and grown. Among the remedies proposed is St John’s Wort, sometimes used in the treatment of depression, to make up part of the figure’s head.

Lucy said: “All of my colleagues and clients at the services involved are really excited about appearing at the show. We’re hoping our plant man looks really eye catching and that visitors to the garden learn something about which plants can help them live more healthily.”

Also working on the garden’s Health zone are Herefordshire SHYPP, supported housing for young people project, whose clients have chosen the theme of toxic and healing plants for their design, and have recruited two herbalists from London to work with ten young people, to teach them about their own health, plants and their healing properties.

Overseen by Paul Stone, the Eden Project garden designer and a multiple medal winner at Chelsea, the 590 square-metre garden will feature a network of themed zones all conveying the empowering nature of growing for life. In addition to the health zone, other areas will feature food production, the senses, industry and the environment.

Paul Stone is working with Architecture Sans Frontieres-UK and Roderick James Architects on the masterplan. The experienced designers are taking a holistic approach and are involving people from eight homeless centres in creating the framework. In total, as many as 50 centres across the country will be involved in design, planting and building of the garden.

Paul Stone said: “The real work is now starting to happen. We know it is fantastically ambitious to have so many hands on the project and in particular the design. The exciting thing is to empower so many people. The stage is there for them to express themselves in all kinds of creative ways.

“Already there are some great ideas on the drawing board, including the planted man. Experienced horticulturists from Eden are being assigned to the teams to help guide them through but essentially the garden is being designed by people who would never have taken on anything like this before.

“As well as the separately designed zones and all the features and plants within them, a major structure on display will be the dramatic central spine of the garden, made up of 250 sentinel posts. These will require traditional carpentry skills and are very much part of the training and learning experience which is such an important element of this project.”

The Places of Change Garden is an ambitious collaboration between national housing and regeneration delivery agency, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Eden Project, national membership charity for frontline homelessness agencies Homeless Link, and Communities and Local Government (CLG).

This partnership builds on the success of the silver medal award-winning Key Garden at Chelsea in 2009, which saw collaboration from 20 homeless agencies and 200 homeless service users involved at all stages of the garden’s development. The project aimed to give participants the chance to unlock their hidden potential, and many of the service users involved consistently reported a huge confidence boost, new skills, and renewed hope for their future.

The 2010 Garden is being funded by CLG and the HCA’s Places of Change programme – a £80m capital funding improvement programme that aims to bring about a step change in the way homeless services are perceived and challenge stereotypes around homelessness.

Following on from the themes of The Key last year, the new garden is founded on the ideas of skills, employment and enterprise.

All the people taking part are going to be guided and looked after in their activities. The National Open College Network is going to assess and accredit their activity. For the designers, this will not only mean being part of a unique project, it also means they will have an accredited qualification in garden design.

ENDS

For further information:

HCA: Helen Stoddart on 020 7881 1615 / helen.stoddart@hca.gsx.gov.uk

Eden Project: David Rowe on 01726 811901 / drowe@EdenProject.com

Homeless Link: Gill Perkins on 020 7960 3025 / gill.perkins@homelesslink.org.uk

CLG: Malinee Wanduragala on 030 3441 1158 /

malinee.wanduragala@communities,gsi.gov.uk

For details about the 2009 Key Garden, visit www.keygarden.com

Notes to editors

The Places of Change programme is an £80m capital improvement funding programme managed by the Homes and Communities Agency, which seeks to improve services for people who are homeless. It aims to identify, encourage, engage and release their potential to enable them to move on with their lives. It encourages service users to get involved in services that will help them turn their lives around.

The programme currently funds 80 projects nationwide with a wealth of innovation that includes social enterprise initiatives such as Crisis’s Skylight cafes in Newcastle and London; a butchery and farm shop at the Pilsdon community in Dorset, as well as a variety of training activities and embedded learning such as a recording studio at Endell Street in London; and a café/training kitchen and small theatre at Leicester YMCA.

About Stonham:

Stonham is England’s largest provider of specialist housing, care and support with more than 520 projects across England helping over 20,000 people each year. We specialise in offering housing, care and support to vulnerable and/or socially excluded people including single homeless people, young people leaving care, vulnerable young women, people escaping domestic violence, people with disabilities and people with mental health problems. Stonham is a division of Home Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable housing, care and support. Home is committed to creating thriving communities where people want to live. The group, which has a turnover in excess of £285m, manages 55,000 homes throughout England and Scotland and employs nearly 4,500 staff.

About SHYPP

Herefordshire SHYPP, supported housing for young people since 2001, manages three foyers for previously homeless young people, as well as providing county wide outreach services to over 200 young people, including specialist young parent, 16/17yr old and after care projects. SHYPP has a duty and crisis service which manages a Nightstop Scheme for homeless young people.

Services are needs led with the aim of enabling young people to gain independent living skills through the provision of support, education and training opportunities. SHYPP also deliver homeless prevention work in schools, NEET training in house, a Future Jobs Fund project, Learning Power Awards and are Foyer Federation Healthy Living Champions. SHYPP is part of Kemble Housing a member of Bromsgrove based West Mercia Housing Group.

About Homes and Communities Agency (HCA)

HCA is the single, national housing and regeneration agency for England. Our role is to create opportunity for people to live in high quality, sustainable places. We provide funding for affordable housing, bring land back into productive use and improve quality of life by raising standards for the physical and social environment. For more information visit www.homesandcommunities.co.uk

About Communities and local Government (CLG):

The Government department with responsibility for tackling homelessness and ending rough sleeping, which is providing funding for Chelsea 2010. An important part of our work on tackling rough sleeping is to extend positive activities that motivate and empower people to take greater control of their lives and the Chelsea project is a fantastic example of just that. Its focus is helping those who have been on the streets to take part in something that builds their confidence and self-esteem, and will help them get their lives back on track. www.communities.gov.uk

About the Eden Project:

Eden Project Limited is owned by the Eden Trust, which is a fully registered UK Charity (No. 1093070).
Eden is home to the two biggest greenhouses in the world – the Rainforest Biome and Mediterranean Biome.
Since fully opening in July 2001, more than 10 million people have visited Eden and it has generated £800 million for the local economy.
So far capital funding of £141.4 million to develop Eden has been raised from a combination of £55.5 million from the Millennium Commission Lottery Fund, £25 million from the South West Regional Development Agency, £26 million from European funds, £1 million from local and regional government (outside the RDA) and £33.9 million in the form of loans, lease finance and Eden's own revenue generation.
Immediate information may be obtained from our website: www.edenproject.com.
 

About Homeless Link

Homeless Link is the national membership organisation for frontline homelessness agencies in England. Our mission is to be a catalyst that will help to bring an end to homelessness. Our two goals are:

• To raise standards in the services that support homeless people and tackle homelessness
• To influence the development of policy, strategy and investment at all levels of government.

Homeless Link’s member organisations provide services through: hostels, day centres, outreach and resettlement agencies, housing advice centres, youth projects, health projects, welfare rights groups, regional and sub-regional homelessness networks, refuges, drug and alcohol services and church groups. www.homeless.org.uk