Scotland’s first raingarden officer appointed!

Scotland now has its first raingarden officer thanks to an innovative project from Central Scotland Green Network Trust and the Scottish Green Infrastructure Forum.

Europe’s largest greenspace initiative is hoping to follow successful projects in Melbourne, Philadelphia and Portland where raingardens have played an important role in dealing with surface water management, flood alleviation and greenspace creation. Funding has been secured from the Green Infrastructure Community Engagement Fund from SNH, the Peoples Postcode Lottery, Glasgow City Council and CSGNT.

Landscape architect, Rachel Howlett has taken up the new position and will be focusing on creating 10,000 raingardens for Scotland as part of the organisation’s focus on creating an environment that will support Central Scotland to thrive in a changing climate.

Rachel explained: “Scotland is known as a ‘wet country’ and raingardens can play an important role by using, storing or temporarily holding  rain water. This presents a fantastic opportunity to help reduce the impact of flooding whilst also contributing to improved biodiversity, pollution control and better greenspaces, and we have set the goal of creating 10,000 raingardens across l Scotland. ”

A Glasgow pilot project is now in place as the first phase of the national campaign to raise awareness and will focus on community and public engagement, developing raingarden plans and designs, and disseminating and promoting guidance on creating small scale raingardens.

The initiative will work with the Southside Housing Association and the community in Queensland Court and Gardens in North Cardonald, to produce bespoke, costed, raingarden designs. Queensland Gardens are two tower blocks owned by Southside Housing Association which are surrounded by short, regularly mown grassland, however there is currently no nature-based surface water management taking place.

Rachel, explained the plans for the area; commenting, she said: “Queensland Gardens presents an ideal opportunity to be innovative by creating multifunctional quality greenspaces which deal with pollution, water and biodiversity deficits. It is also important to use this initiative to provide play and education opportunities which can also contribute to a sense of mental wellbeing, pride and community empowerment.”

The 10,000 raingardens initiative is also focusing on raising awareness of the benefits of raingardens to encourage individuals, businesses and communities to create the systems in their gardens, community spaces and buildings.

 

For further information please visit http://www.sgif.org.uk/index.php/10-000-raingardens-for-scotland and tell us about any raingardens here.

As Europe’s largest greenspace initiative, CSGN is working to transform the central belt into a place where the environment adds value to the economy and where people’s lives are enriched by its quality.  Stretching from Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Dunbartonshire in the west, to Fife and Lothians in the east, it encompasses 19 local authorities across 10,000 sq km and has the potential to benefit 3.5 million people, equating to 70 per cent of Scotland’s population.