Projects to make London’s spaces greener given a vital funding boost
Communities across London are being invited to put forward their ideas for grassroots projects to make London greener and more resilient to climate change following a funding boost from the company building London’s new super sewer.
Tideway is providing a support for Groundwork London’s “Our Space Award”, a fund that support Londoners of all ages and backgrounds, including community groups and schools, in greening their neighbourhoods, making them inclusive places for all to enjoy.
This investment will help the fund to double its impact, allowing a wide range of groups from the 14 London boroughs where Tideway has construction sites to access funding - ranging from £500 to £20,000 - for projects that support active community engagement and participation.
Lucy Webster, Tideway’s Director of External Affairs, said: “We are delighted to support the 2021/2 Our Space Awards. Tideway is delivering long-term environmental improvements for London and the project has also set out to deliver a wider legacy through our community investment programme - and this fund fits so well with both those things.
“The ‘super sewer’ will clean up the River Thames for future generations and Tideway’s investment will have an emphasis on supporting projects which have some link with water or an element of environmental education. We look forward to seeing the plans and ideas that come forward.”
Kelly Bradley, Tideway’s Community Investment Manager, said: “This fund will encourage communities large and small to come together to make improvements and gives them a wide range of ways to do that – from increasing climate resilience to improving water and air quality; from developing ecology and biodiversity to spreading climate education, reducing social isolation and improving wellbeing.”
Ben Coles, Director of Development and Strategic Programmes at Groundwork London, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Tideway are coming on board to support the aims and impact of the Our Space Award.
“Our public open spaces have never been more important in supporting our health & wellbeing and increasing our resilience to climate change - and encouraging local people to help shape how our smaller spaces across the capital can be enhanced for wider community benefit is what Our Space Award is all about. Partnering with Tideway will enable us to support many more groups who share in this aspiration.”
Activities supported by the fund, that will run for a year from February 2022, are expected to deliver a range of benefits, including: tree planting (it is hoped that each project can plant at least one tree); climate resilience; improvements to water quality and drainage through planting and reducing hard surfaces; improved ecology and biodiversity; and climate education.
Tideway’s donation to Groundwork London includes reinvested savings from its sustainable financing programme, which links reduced interest on its debt to delivering the project’s legacy commitment. Currently Tideway has 90 per cent of its live commitments on track, exceeding the target in its sustainable financing agreement.
More details of the fund and how local groups can apply can be found on the Groundwork London website.