We are Group 5, working with Monton Unitarian Church to transform the unused Boddan lodge grounds, an ex-bowls green next to the church, into a community garden and venue. We are lucky to have the valued input of the church committee and are supported by Manchester Urban Diggers who have experience in creating community gardens.

The project has two stages:
1. To design and create a Community Garden, including raised planters, within the intensive week. We hope to get stuck in clearing out the garden and building the planters, ready to be opened on the last day for a community party!
2. Additionally, we will design a Pagoda to be situated on the hard standing where Boddan Lodge used to sit. This will provide some shelter for events in the garden and even a wedding venue for the church. We hope to design the pagoda and create a cost breakdown to make it clear for Anna the Reverend to employ builders to bring to life.

Unitarianism is a religion that welcomes each individual for themselves, complete with their beliefs, doubts and questions, making it a particularly welcoming community. We are excited to work with the church committee to design something that meets their needs and to all get stuck in together to create it during the intensive weeks, leaving them with a space that brings the whole community of Monton together.

Hi, my name’s Nicole and I’m studying in MArch 1, within the Continuity Atelier.
After graduating with a bachelor’s in architecture from De Montfort University, Leicester I went into my Part 1 year out, working for DHA in Birmingham. I was lucky enough to work on a range of projects but particularly enjoyed the conservation work, so I’m excited to be working on a site with the beautiful, historic Monton Unitarian church. Being in the continuity atelier, we have a focus on designing within the context of the existing and I look forward to designing the community garden to add to the wonderful existing site.
During my year of travelling last year, I spent a month building a medial dispensary in Fiji, so have a little bit of construction experience and am excited to get ‘hands-on’ during the intensive weeks building in May. I don’t have particularly green fingers, but I’m looking forward to getting messy and planting with the raised beds with the community so I can learn and then plant in my own garden. I am excited to get the wider community of Monton involved and to work with undergrads to design and deliver something exciting that everyone can enjoy together!

Getting Presentation Ready!
Today's team meeting consisted of making a presentation for tomorrow's meeting with the church committee to propose initial ideas for the site and rally some help for building in the intensive week!
We sat down as a team and made a model of the site, added our initial idea for the pagoda and raised planters and created visuals from it.
Let's hope the Monton Community are excited by the project and want to get stuck in!