Outer Space
As the last shuttle mission is completed and Atlantis finally gets retired to a museum are you going to have to join the queue at Baikonur Cosmodrome to get into outer space from now on? Well perhaps not if you live in the Coventry or Doncaster areas.
Outer Space is the ambitious new project just launched by the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare and over the next two years it has a significant mission of its own planned. With grant aid secured from The Big Lottery Access To Nature fund, managed by Natural England, CSH is working with NHS partners to open up under-utilised land on hospital sites, with the aim of providing improved access to natural green spaces for the benefit of hospital users, staff and their local communities. Existing green spaces will be improved and enhanced through new management plans and developed with local partners and volunteers to become hubs for the enjoyment of nature, relaxation, arts, ecotherapy, green crafts, woodland skills and personal development.
Natural Health
If you are familiar with our NHS Forest programme which aims to plant 1.3m trees on healthcare sites over the next 20 years then you will be aware that CSH understands the double benefit of the greening of these facilities, through both the offsetting of the health sector’s enormous carbon footprint and the documented improvements to health and wellbeing that contact with plants and nature and a greener environment can deliver.
The Big Picture
The sites at University Hospital Coventry and St Catherine’s Hospital in Doncaster will host a range of activities to improve wellbeing and physical health, create educational and training opportunities, promote creative arts projects in responding to issues of sustainability and climate change and develop a community infrastructure to secure the future legacy of the planned work.
Community and Partnerships
To deliver the project CSH has teamed up with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust and the leading UK environmental activity organisation BTCV (formerly the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers). BTCV workers at the sites will engage with hospital staff, patients, local schools, groups and residents and establish what kind of activities and developments will be most effective in encouraging positive and beneficial use of these spaces. Community teams will be set up to participate in site improvements and to form management groups which will be supported to raise funds for additional projects and to secure the future of the sites for years to come.
To Infinity and Beyond
Funding for arts activities is included in the package so it won’t all be hard graft and local schools will be encouraged and supported to make year round use of the rich natural resource that will be on offer. The key to the success of the projects will be the development of multi-faceted use of hitherto overlooked spaces which will have something to offer everyone who passes through them. If you want to stay in touch with developments then the next newsletter will have more information on how to sign up for regular updates on the project, and as we develop our dedicated website, see pictures, film clips and read our site blogs. Check back soon.
David Scoffield - Outer Space Project Manager
