Greenside Rain Garden

Working with local partners to transform a difficult public space into something safer and more usable.

Outside my children’s primary school in Shepherd’s Bush, there were ongoing issues with drug use and dealing. It was a difficult environment for families and the wider community.

Over two years, I worked with the council, local partners and the school to develop a different approach: transforming the space into a rain garden, funded through the council’s Green Investment Fund.

The result is a safer, more welcoming public space, including a winding path now known by the children as the “wiggly walkway”.

This was small-scale work, but it reflects the same principles: persistence, relationships, and working across institutions to make change happen in practice.