Supporting Young People at GM Youth Network to Revamp Their Garden Balcony
A balcony in desperate need of a revamp in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has been transformed by a group of creative and committed young people thanks to support from Groundwork’s Youth Team.
What was once a grey, uninspiring space is now a nature and colour filled community haven that even includes a mural of the young people’s favourite things!
Background
The Greater Manchester Youth Network (GMYN) deliver a range of development programmes and drop-in activities to help young people transition to adulthood feeling skilled, supported and positive.
Groundwork Greater Manchester started working with a group of GMYN’s young people as part of Climate Leadership and Coordination programme which supports young people who have a passion for environmental projects.
The space
The balcony at Green Fish Resource centre (where the Greater Manchester Youth Network is located) is shared between many organisations/staff and the young people that attend GMYN’s sessions. Groundwork supported the group of young people to design and deliver a social action project which aimed to revamp this shared community space.
The transformation process
The group planned and executed a range of activities to bring the balcony to life, such as; designing and painting their saved pots and arranging them in the space, prepping the ground for the astro-turf and fixing it in place, lifting in their raised beds and filling them with plants, choosing their outdoor solar lights and securing them in the locations they thought best.
“Doing this project I learned to be resilient and patient”
During the first part of the project which aimed to revamp the balcony, the group expressed an interest in painting a mural for the space to make it colourful, positive and welcoming for the community. The young people were shown examples of existing murals for inspiration and from this they decided on the colour scheme, style and themes for their mural – nature, music and the Manchester bee.
Groundwork staff sketched out the design and after the group confirmed they liked the design, the painting commenced!
The group followed a digital plan, but were encouraged to change the design along the way – they decided to adapt the colour scheme and add texture to areas of the mural.
“The project benefited the community by providing a wonderful area the local community can enjoy”