The Trees and Design Action Group has launched their Design Guidance: Trees in Townscapes which " offers 12 action-oriented principles spanning the range of planning, design, works and management issues that must be addressed for maximum economic, social and environmental returns.
World Environment Day is on Tuesday 5th June. Why not sponsor a tree to be planted in the NHS Forest or make an environmental pledge such as cycling to work to mark the day. Last year both the NHS Supply Chain and Baxter Healthcare sponsored a tree for every environmental pledge made by staff in their organisation.
The trees sponsored by Baxter Healthcare were planted at the Royal Chesterfield hospital and those sponsored by NHS Supply Chain were planted at the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership and Broomfield Hospitals.
Canterbury Christ Church University planted its NHS Forest Golden Jubilee Orchard in January 2012 to celebrate its first 50 years of service to Kent and beyond. David Bellamy opened the orchard and led the walk around the North Homes campus on Monday 21st May.
'Greenspace Design for Health & Well-being' is now available as an FC Practice Guide and is very handy for NHS Estates looking to gain ideas as to how to create their NHS Forest site.
Co-authored by Aileen Shackell and Robin Walter, this guide aims to inspire everyone involved in healthcare to think how they might use their outdoor spaces for therapeutic purposes. There are practical Design Principles, lavish illustrations, before and after examples and a wealth of reference information.
The Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) is working alongside the NHS Forest project to green NHS sites across the UK and provide a greener environment for its public and patients. YAS received a grant from First TransPennine Express (FTPE) and the Forestry Commission enabling them to plant 50 fruit trees at 11 sites across the Yorkshire region.
These trees are to improve the environment around the ambulance stations for its staff, but to also ensure that any public who pass the stations understand the importance of sustainable food, even on public service owned property.
The NHS Forest has been making links with Canadian Greenspace projects. The NHS Forest Coordinator visited the New Patient Centre as part of the Royal Jubilee Hospital development in Victoria (British Columbia) and spoke with representatives of the Vancouver Island Health Authority. They have recently created a green roof as part of their new development and a garden for staff, patients and visitors to enjoy including a reflection area and waterfall.
Many of our NHS Forest sites throughout the country took part in tree planting in support of the NHS Sustainability Day of Action. Thanks to everyone for your hard work in making this such a successful day.
The following sites have further detail of their tree planting on their site pages.
The NHS Forest sites have planted over 10,000 trees so far, thank you to everyone who has taken part in the project so far and for all their hard work in making this success possible. We look forward to recording the next 10,000 trees!
In Summer 2010 the Occupational Therapy Department at Bethlem Hospital, under the leadership of Peter O’Hare, began a collaborative project with the London Orchard Project with the aim of rejuvenating the old orchard at Bethlem. The aim was to engage staff and service users in the project to restore the trees and to make better use of the fruit in Occupational Therapy cooking groups and in the hospital canteen.
Over 70 NHS Forest sites are collecting phones as part of the Fones 4 Forest camapign in Climate week. For every phone recycled a tree is being planted in the NHS Forest on NHS Sustainability Day of Action on the 28th March. To find out how you can be part of this campaign, please contact us.
