Vacant Lot

Take an unused and neglected space, add ½ tonne bags of soil and - hey presto - you've got a new community resource.

We meet residents who are now enjoying the new space, meeting their neighbours and getting fit growing their own healthy food. We also meet Groundwork's on site Community Gardener who continues to provide weekly advice to residents to help them develop their new plot.

Welcome to a Vacant Lot project, part of a three year project funded by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food grant scheme which provides a creative solution to growing fresh food in urban social housing areas with limited access to private and public green spaces.

Derelict spaces are being transformed through simple means into allotments where local residents tender a spectacular array of vegetables and fruit. The project is based on a successful pilot in Shoreditch, where local resident involvement helped to transform a formerly dead and inaccessible space into an allotment using ½ tonne bags of soil.

Vacant Lot is now being rolled out across 20 social housing estates in Hackney, Islington and Camden in partnership with six social housing providers and What If: projects Limited, the original designers of the ‘Vacant Lot’ idea.

After checking out the ladybird houses and runner beans we'll head over to Clissold park to meet paticipants gaining new skills in one of Groundwork London's employment schemes.


The site today