Loyle Carner returns to Croydon with Timberland to continue their urban greening mission

 

Over the last 9 months, award winning south London music artist Loyle Carner, Timberland and the local community of Thornton Heath, have developed Ambassador House forecourt into a thriving community space.

 

Loyle-carner-in-grey-timberland-sweatshirt-cargo-pants-and-boots

 

A greener future is a better future

“I put out a tweet just being like yo I’m looking into this thing called urban greening’ and Timberland hit me back saying our ideas aligned”

Re-greening a disused area not far from where he grew up, Loyle has collaborated with Timberland to lead the regeneration alongside London National Park City in a movement to make the capital greener, healthier and wilder. Creating a greener city-scape for London, the new community square will act as a space for locals to access calm and peace and a place to be proud of, while also raising awareness about environmental issues.

 

Working with the community

 

loyle-planting-with-community

 

“We talked, we listened, and we made plans to transform the square right outside Thornton Heath station”

The local community took a leading role in bringing it together, adding their own finishing touches to the space to make it alive and welcoming. Members of the community were given a time slot, to comply with social distancing guidelines, and invited down to plant something beautiful, making their own contribution to the future of their community. 

Allowing the people of Thornton Heath to have an active role in this project was pivotal to creating a space they will actually use, a place which is inspiring and encourages creativity.

“Music’s a leveller and in this instance its opened doors and brings my community together on a project that personally means a lot” 

The project kicked off last October, when Loyle Carner teamed up with Timberland and London National Park City to promote positive change for local communities and the environment on his home turf of Croydon, a notorious concrete jungle. The first phase of the urban greening development at Thornton Heath was also marked with an open community event involving locals to provide feedback and input into the project. 

"Feels good to be home. I was lucky to grow up around green space, but in my area that’s not how it is for everyone. So, I took a small but vital step in the right direction to bring more green space to the Croydon community. I’m still moved that Timberland would support such a grassroot initiative, and help us link up with London National Park City”

 

The Space

Timberland and Loyle collaborated with Croydon council, National Park City, Urban growth and the local community to bring this idea to life. The end result is a colourful representation of everyone involved, injecting that piece of tranquillity we get from nature into this urban jungle. The idea was to take the positive state of mind nature gives us and bring that into the city to give people something uplifting. Taking something grey and making it green, creating a space which is alive and welcoming that people can enjoy on a daily basis

 

Loyle-with-community-in-thorton-heath

 

Small actions have a big impact

If everyone in London would green 1m squared, we’d make more than 50% of the capital physically green. The small changes make a big impact. 

Caring is no longer enough.

Nature Needs Heroes.

Watch the full documentary here