Community Garden
Tucked away behind the warehouses, a triangle of once-derelict wasteland is being transformed into a thriving community garden, designed in consultation with our neighbours and local community.
There’s a stretch of land behind the main warehouse building at SWG3 - a huge, slightly off-kilter triangle of space, with the railway access path on one side, and the railway line on the other, overlooked by Yorkhill flats. It’s currently a joyful mess of digging, planting, drilling, laying and planning as we prepare for one of the most significant developments yet at the SWG3 complex: green space.
A space for everyone
Across the past two years, we’ve been collaborating with Propagate on an intensive – and creative – consultation process with local residents, asking them for their thoughts and views on what the space should be for. Through surveys, canvassing, workshops and a garden party held in the grounds, we’ve collated wisdom on everything from bees to biodiversity, walkways to wildfires.
Designed by, and for, the local community, the SWG3 garden will be a truly shared space, open daily, and all year round. A 3,200m2 hidden haven for growing, planting, playing, creating and relaxing; for drinking coffee on a winter morning, sowing seeds on a spring evening, making art on a summer afternoon.
Breaking ground
Since then, with the appointment of garden designer Jeremy Needham, we’ve begun to make those plans a reality. Ground has well and truly been broken, with the site currently a brilliant mess of digging, drilling — and planting. The first sign of life has been a significant one. Since The New York Times’ Climate Hub, hosted at the venue during COP26, Jeremy has been lovingly looking after a miniature forest of indigenous plants and trees, donated by the global institution following a powerful installation in our Galvanizers space by artist Es Devlin.
In amongst all this, a team of engineers have been setting to work drilling 125 metre boreholes into the ground to facilitate our BODYHEAT system, the wildly innovative new technology which will see us convert heat given off by people attending clubs and gigs at the venue to be used as a circular, sustainable way of heating and cooling the space.
Across the rest of the year we’ll be working on bringing to life the plans for the rest of the space, including lawn areas, growing and food production beds, a sheltered gathering space, sensory planting area, a woodland walkway and a spacious outdoor terrace stretching out beneath the Warehouse windows.
The bigger picture
The garden has been made possible thanks to generous funding from the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, the UK Community Renewal Fund and VKR Foundation. As well as addressing a known demand for public greenspace and growing space in the area, the garden is also a key part in our own plans as a venue to become net-zero, and to significantly enhance our local area. Find out more about SWG3's vision for the future.
