Core Arts, London - Community Garden improvements (008327)

Core Arts seeks £25,000 to restore and future-proof their community roof garden, now closed because it is unsafe to access. The deteriorating flat roof—above six garages used for art workshops—has become a serious health-and-safety risk and is leaking into the studios below. Works will create a safe, sustainable green space, protect the garages, and preserve the heritage of the 1884 Victorian building, benefiting over 1,800 NHS-referred adults, welcoming 15,000+ annual visitors, and engaging around 200 community volunteers.

Since 1992 Core Arts has run award-winning creative mental-health programmes and community events from this historic site, maintaining three community gardens, including a public horticulture park. Weathering has caused major water ingress through the flat roof. The broken membrane has rotted the structural timber. Without urgent action, damage will escalate, increasing costs. Restauration will secure a safe, resilient building, protecting vital community roof garden.

The Core’s Green Roof Garden Restoration aims to make our historic centre safe, resilient and environmentally sustainable. We will repair the leaking flat roof above six art-workshop garages, replace the rotted membrane, and reinstate a vibrant green roof. Outcomes include: a safe, accessible garden that supports horticultural learning and mental-health recovery; protection of the Victorian building and studios used by over 1,800 NHS-referred adults each year; improved biodiversity and urban cooling through new planting, a green corridor; renewed volunteering opportunities for around 200 local residents.

Reopening this space will strengthen community wellbeing, provide a calm refuge for participants and visitors, and showcase practical climate action by demonstrating how green infrastructure can reduce rainwater run-off and heat-island effects. By safeguarding both the building and its gardens, the project ensures long-term creative, social and environmental benefits for Hackney.