Organisation
The Hyde Group
Theme
Biodiversity & environmental quality
Start Date
Oct 2024
Goals
Heat, Resilient communities, Nature, Biodiversity
The Hyde Group held a tree planting event in Stockwell to launch its Big Plant Out campaign.
The Challenge
Lambeth’s Urban Forest Strategy (opens in a new window) sets out a vision for how the borough’s trees and canopy cover can be increased, while maintaining Lambeth’s existing trees. It will help create a resilient urban forest that will see areas with the lowest tree cover prioritised each planting season.
In the first planting season from Autumn 2023 to Spring 2024, Lambeth planted 2,445 new trees, surpassing the initial target, and is set to plant another 1,700 this planting season.
Lambeth is on track to meet its overall commitment to increase the number of new trees in Lambeth by 5,000 by 2026, through the combined efforts of all the community groups and organisations it works with.
Action Taken
The Hyde Group (Hyde) contributed to Lambeth’s tree planting programme when colleagues across Hyde recently put on their gardening gloves and planted trees on their estate Stockwell Gardens to launch Hyde’s Big Plant Out campaign.
The Big Plant Out will see eight Hyde estates ‘planted out’ in 2024 and 2025 - from Chichester to Peterborough – to help improve how Hyde ’s communities look and feel through planting. Hyde undertook this campaign as part of its Sustainability and Social Value Strategies.
Stockwell Gardens was the first estate to enjoy some green-fingered care, with over 50 trees and 700 bulbs planted. The trees will not only help improve the biodiversity of these green spaces but also provide shade in warmer temperatures.
The event ended with Hyde’s Chief Executive Officer, Andy Hulme, branching out and planting his own tree on the Stockwell estate.
“It was a brilliant day, and we made a real difference in just a few hours. Green spaces are important to all of us – we wanted to improve how our neighbourhoods look and feel and increase biodiversity.
Thank you to everyone who took part. Also, thank you to our social value partners, who taught us some vital gardening tips and meant we could transform these spaces without impacting our customers’ service charges.”
Neal Ackcral, Hyde’s Chief Operating Officer
Thank you to Hyde’s partners, including Groundscapes Ltd and Just Ask, who worked with Hyde as part of their commitment to social value.
For the keen gardeners out there, for information Hyde colleagues planted ten each of the following trees on the Stockwell estate: Sorbus 'Joseph Rock', Ginkgo ‘biloba’, Prunus 'Amanogawa', Amelanchier ‘canadensis’, Betula ‘pendula. Alongside the trees, Hyde colleagues also planted a mix of 700 bulbs - Cyclamen hederifolium, Fritillaria persica, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Hyacinthus orientalis, Crocosmia 'Lucifer'.
