Project

Sayes Court Garden Network project

The Sayes Court Garden Network project is one of the projects under the umbrella of the Greening Evelyn Greenspace Toolkit. As part of this, we are working with Lewisham Council and local partners to develop designs for 3 revitalised green spaces on the Sayes Court estate, in collaboration with residents and the local community.

A £40,000 Development Grant from the Greater London Authority’s Green and Resilient Spaces Fund, coupled with £30,000 of Neighbourhood Community Infrastructure Levy funding from Lewisham Council, have funded a programme of community engagement to develop and re-design three currently under-used areas based on the communities feedback.

Lewisham Sayes Court Greening Evelyn event — A family enjoying activities at the Lewisham Sayes Court Garden Network project event | © National Trust Images_Arnhel de Serra

Our plan for the project

We have been working with local partners to run a series of events and activities to understand people’s views on their local green spaces and how these could be improved. These opportunities have informed the development of designs which will support people to make more use of these spaces. Have a look at our project timeline to find out more.

Latest updates

Following a series of engagement activities and events, we’ve listened to the feedback received from residents and developed a set of designs which reflect the communities’ priorities for using these areas. Our community event, on 1 February, showcased the most recent version of these designs and supported the visualisation of what these changes might really look like. We’re pleased to be able to share the latest design concepts for these spaces, developed by nimtim architects.

Sayes Court Designs

Street view impressions

These concepts have been formed using community and resident feedback as well as ideas shared at workshops held at the Richard McVicar Adventure Playground, Lewisham Refugee & Migrant Network. We have also worked alongside design specialists, colleagues within Lewisham Council and Met Police to fine tune the designs and ensure they respond to the specific needs of the area.

Wider Greening Evelyn vision

The Sayes Court Garden Network project is one of the projects included within the Greening Evelyn Toolkit. Over the last couple of years, we have been working with a coalition of organisations in Lewisham - including DeptfordFolk, Lewisham Council, Everest, local Tenants and Residents Associations for the Pepys Estate, to develop a 'Greenspace Toolkit' for Evelyn Ward. The plan looks at how green spaces can be created, enhanced and managed with communities, for communities.

A copy of the Toolkit is available here.

Find out more about Greening Evelyn with this short film: Greening Evelyn vision

Project timeline

July 2024

Community picnic

A community picnic was hosted by nimtim Architects on 20 July to hear more from people about which local green spaces should be improved and how. We shared a letter with everyone on the estate inviting them to the event and giving everyone the opportunity to share their views via an online survey.

At the picnic, nimtim brought a large-scale map of the estate printed on a blanket. People were invited to place tokens onto the map to show how they currently use the spaces and which spaces they would like to use differently. A model of the estate was also used to collect more detailed feedback on specific locations and to vote for areas to be re-designed.