This page covers the detailed plans, and actions, taken to help improve the biodiversity and community benefit of a group of trees on the junction of Blanchard Street, Rook Street and St Marys Street in Hulme, Manchester.
Recent updates
Ground has broken! A path, bench, and planters have been added, alongside 250 plants and 800 bulbs. We had 25 wonderful volunteers on our first planting day. Our next event to plant even more bulbs, add a library and lay 60m2 of turf will be on Saturday 21/11/2026.
The proposal
In 2023 SusCoHulme hosted 3 consultations to create a Neighbourhood Improvement Plan. To progress this work in 2025 we hosted a design workshop for one phase of the Plan: Phase 3a – Blanchard Gardens. We aim to be onsite and delivering the space in summer 2026.
How residents designed the space
We used some residual consultation funding from a Neighbourhood Investment Funds award to run a design workshop with residents.
Flyers – SusCoHulme created flyers on Canva, and printed them at MuPrint. For £55 we printed 300, A5, colour leaflets, and purchased. We then delivered these to residents and businesses around the St Marys Development.
Design workshop at Rekindle School – Rented a space in Rekindle for £25, and purchased vegan sandwiches from BoxCo for £30 and hosted a design workshop where we:
- Explained residents plan for the nieghbourhood
- Discussed potential outcomes and options for the space
- Walked around the space as a group with clipboards taking notes and drawing
- Came back to the room in Rekindle and completed the designs
Voting on proposals – Each feature from the workshop was collected and voted on in a Google Form. Features with an overall positive or neutral score were included, those with a negative score were excluded from the final design.
Final Design
Final design – Using all the feedback from the voting, SusCoHulme produced a final design and shared with our mailing list, to make sure we hadn’t missed anything obvious!
The final design includes: Bark chip path, circular bench round a tree, little book library, planters, raised beds, a bug hotel, bird boxes, an additional bin, bulbs, wildflowers, herbs, and fruits.
Funding secured!
We have been successful in our application to the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund. Our project is now funded by the Greater Manchester Green Spaces Fund, accessed through the Greater Manchester Environment Trust. SusCoHulme estimates that it will cost around £20,000 to complete development of the 270 m2 site. We have confirmed the delivery start date of 28/09/2026 with Connell Brothers, who are helping through their Corporate Social Responsibility commitment via MMU.
How can you get involved with this space?
If you live, work, or learn in Hulme you are welcome to become a member of SusCoHulme. As a member you can take part in:
- Help us plant the space Blanchard Garden, regular events through the year, see our calendar for whats up next.
- Help us water, weed, and maintain Blanchard Garden
- Help with or lead litter picks
- Community green space maintenance days for other site: Bright Green
- Help shape future projects, your vote counts!
As a member you also have a vote on:
- Future projects
- Designs of new green spaces
- Funding allocation
You will also be notified whenever there is an meeting, event, funding update, or project update. If you want to join and haven’t already please visit our sign up form.
If you have any questions or comments send them to suscohulme@gmail.com
