The Urban Garden

The Urban Garden CIC is a horticultural social enterprise in Royal Victoria Park, with Marlborough Buildings behind it and the Royal Crescent round the corner. Alongside selling plants and coffee, it runs free training for adults facing unemployment, poor mental health, or both.

The people are warm. The current buildings, less so.

The existing shed, used for retail, staff space and storage, is constructed from timber and corrugated plastic, unheated and uninsulated. Courses are taught in the greenhouses, between the propagation benches.

With a new 15 year lease and plans to train more people, the CIC needs a shop, classroom and café on roughly the same footprint, in one of the most sensitive settings in Bath.

Where we can, we’re keeping what’s already there. The existing blockwork walls stay, and we’re testing whether the steel frame and polycarbonate roofing can be reused. The timber cladding is left untreated to silver into the parkland, with a habitat wall of insect hotels, and bat and swift boxes.

The aim is simple: warm and welcoming for all.