Our Composting Project has begun! Thank you to all our supporters.
We are very excited to announce that our appeal to raise funds for the Composting Project has been successful, and work will commence shortly.
Thank you to Veolia Environmental Trust, via the Landfill Communities Trust, and everyone who has supported this project; every donation makes a difference, thank you. Since the gardens opened in 1832, composting has been a vital procedure to dispose of green waste, condition the soil, and improve its fertility. The Composting Project means we can replace the existing 60-year-old structures with new facilities to process green waste and establish a fully environmentally sustainable composting process at the Gardens, from which our unique collection of plants will continue to thrive. The use of compost leads to a multitude of benefits for all green spaces: saving water by helping soil hold moisture; adding nutrients to soil that helps plant growth, encouraging healthy root structure; balancing soil pH (acidity); and preventing erosion. An effective composting process is pivotal to our ability to sustain a varied ecosystem of plants, and soil biodiversity is key to success. Since 1829, we have been devoted to conservation, sharing public education and growing plant diversity in one of the UK’s most significant historic botanical gardens.
The project works will enable a purpose-designed facility to be constructed in the nursery area of the site, costing £101,000. Following a formal tendering process, we are pleased to have awarded the contract to Big Fish Landscapes and the project will be managed with assistance from Conservation Architects, Donald Insall Associates.
Matthew Vaughan of Donald Insall says “We have been working with the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for some years, having carried out projects such as repair of the Grade II listed chimney and Grade II listed Bandstand, and we are delighted to see this project come forward, another step in the masterplan to ensure the Gardens’ continued growth.”
We are grateful to the generosity of all our funders, members and individual supporters who have made this project possible. As a registered and independent charity, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, we receive no regular public funding. The charity relies on income we can generate from visitors, members, grants we can secure and generous donations from people who share our vision to nurture and make the Gardens accessible for everyone now, and for future generations.
We are immensely grateful for the grant from Veolia Environmental Trust, via the Landfill Communities Trust. We are also very grateful to The Banister Trust, Roger & Douglas Turner Trust, 29th May 1961 Charity, Loppylugs & Barbara Morrison Trust, Open Gate Trust, HDH Wills Wildlife Trust and CB & HH Taylor Trust. We wish to acknowledge our very special thanks to all those individuals and members who have made a donation to the project, whether by cheque or on-line or in our donation boxes- your donations have made a real difference. Without your support we could not have claimed the grant! We hope you enjoy watching the benefits of your donations grow.