Our thanks go to

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We have been very privileged to have received help and advice from a number of distinguished and experienced individuals and organisations. They have all agreed in one form or another to continue to help us realize our plans to create a more attractive and harmonious environment for all residents of Ethelburga –

Street Garden Ideas

Draeyk Van der Horn, Chairman of the Bonnington Square Garden Association, see http://bonningtonsquaregarden.org.uk

If you find yourself in Vauxhall, near Sainsbury’s Nine Elms, please go and visit the Square; it shows what a community working together can achieve.

Landscaping and Community Integration

Dreayk kindly introduced Michael Hermann, Senior Lecturer at Kingston University’s School of Architecture & Landscape, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, see http://fada.kingston.ac.uk

Michael brought a group of around 12 students to Ethelburga who came up with a whole slew of suggestions for increased community integration. Michael has considerable personal experience of pushing through community initiatives in Hackney. If we gain greater control over our garden planning Michael will seek to make Ethelburga a formal part their next academic year, which means that his students will come and provide detailed suggestions for improvements.

Colour Schemes

Patrick Baty, who holds a Royal Warrant for his expertise in colour, came and spent many hours seeking to find replacement colours for the blue – green and orange blocks, see http://patrickbaty.co.uk.

It was an eye-opener to see what thought needs to go into such an exercise when conducted professionally – Patrick sought to select colours that do not clash with the Tower, that dominates Ethelburga, the neighbouring Victorian houses and will still look attractive and interesting at night time, under the artificial lighting we have. His suggestions will be revealed when under Major Works we explore colours with all residents.

Garden Design, Harmonisation & Landscaping

Jo Thompson, a Chelsea Garden Show Gold Medal Winner, and much sought after international garden designer, has taken a close interest in proposing some stunning design ideas for Ethelburga, which we shall start implementing once we have assumed responsibility for our own gardening, see http://www.jothompson-garden-design.co.uk.

We have asked her to take the coming climate warming and water shortages into account when making suggestions for our planting schedules.

Architectural Enhancements and Home Zone Development

During a very fruitful meeting with Prof Stefan Behling, Senior Partner and Design Director at Foster + Partners, we were offered a number of interesting suggestions on simple changes at Ethelburga, see hhttp://www.fosterandpartners.com.

As we develop our plans we shall be able to call on their considerable resources and world-wide experience.

Fruit Trees

It is crazy that we have no fruit trees on Ethelburga. The Council tell us that this is to avoid people being hit on the head by falling fruit, or slipping on fruit already on the ground. Health and Safety!

There are of course locations and types of fruit trees that do not represent such life-threatening dangers. We are most grateful to Carina Millstone of the London Orchard Project http://thelondonorchardproject.org for providing advice on what could go where and for providing a list of suitable trees. Do please look at their video – all is explained in 3 1/2 minutes. We shall secure and plant these recommendations in due course and in discussion with the Council.

There quire a number of additional professionals who have offered advice and suggestions – we shall in due course list them here too and describe their suggestions.

This list shows how much professional help and advice is available to us once we are free to develop some of these and present them to all residents. The future (for Ethelburga) is bright, the futureĀ  is green!

 

 

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