Breaking Down Barriers

There was initial scepticism in regards to adding street benches to the site. All too often there is a knee-jerk reaction against public seating. ‘People will congregate’ as though that in itself is a crime. What’s being overlooked is the power of good design and greenery to improve the feeling and perception of safety at otherwise neglected sites and empower a sense of well-being in a neighbourhood. The aim of the planting and furniture was to transform an otherwise uncared for site and to improve an area for local residents to sit and enjoy and provide a catalyst for positive change to help enable the breaking down of the barriers between old and new Brixton.

After the trail period, the benches stayed, the site has remained clean and vandalism free. It has been a resounding success, far from encouraging further anti-social behaviour, it encouraged social behaviour and the estates’ residents are said to be very happy with the results.

A project like this is for life and not just for design week (LDF), however, there’s no doubt in our minds that the LDF helped make things happen that may otherwise have taken far longer to achieve. We received a tremendous amount of ‘can do’ attitude from our in-kind supporters. Lambeth Housing were very proactive in helping us connect with the people we needed to make additional transformations at the site happen. At community engagements, we discussed with local residents how else could this site improve aside from adding street furniture and a beautiful garden. The answers were simple. ‘Can we have it cleaned please?’ ‘Can we have street bins?’ ‘Can we have the street lighting fixed?’  We brokered those questions and thanks to Lambeth and their subcontractors, the site was pressure washed and cleaned, two new street bins are in place and used, 14 bollards were painted to our RAL colour specifications to match the Vestre benches, and the street lighting was fixed! All these elements, along with the overall design upgrade, gave a greater sense of security, pride and belonging in the community.

As we planted the three fruit trees in September 2016 and spoke to passers-by of 70+ plants added to the existing flower beds, many of which are herbs, the response was huge smiles greeting the concept of an edible garden for the residents.

The Brixton BID is now funding a second round of community planting which we are organising to be part of The Chelsea Fringe Festival 2017. Here come the berries…

This is a revolution of the edible kind. This is breaking down barriers with good design. This is Brixton at its best!