03/03/2021 – One thing that didn’t stop in a year of lockdowns was the growth of the Peace Garden at our London Academy. This tranquil space tucked in behind our main gym continued to develop over the course of the second half of 2020, and recently completed phase one of its construction.
The project to build a Peace Garden came about after young people from Fight for Peace’s Lutadoras group won a HTA Design design competition. As part of the competition, six Fight for Peace members aged 11-15 designed a living space for the future design concept, incorporating a creative storyboard, a LEGO digital design and a physical prototype model built in LEGO.
The competition winners then opted to put the prize money towards the creation of a peaceful space at Fight for Peace, transforming a previously underused area to the rear of the London Academy. HTA Design did an amazing job of raising additional money in order to bring this project to life.
The garden symbolises peace, tranquility and remembrance. Once completed, it will be a space for young people and staff to get away from all the noise and chaos, and take time out to reflect and be peaceful. It is also a place where we can remember and pay our respects to those loved ones that we have lost in our lives.
With phase one of the project having completed, the shape and feel of the garden is coming to the fore with flower and shrub beds planted and seating and pathways installed.
Some areas of the garden are designed for people to gather together, while others are private for people to reflect and be alone. A number of Fight for Peace young people and staff team members got involved in both the design and physical building of the garden, which was overseen by the team from Build Up.
“In really difficult times the team from Build Up have done a fantastic job in persevering and getting this first phase of the job done. Having this space is very important to us all at Fight for Peace and seeing it come together and grow is really exciting”, said Fight for Peace Partnerships Officer Lethius Charles.
“Importantly, this has been a collaborative process and the design team did an amazing job of engaging our young people, adapting to their needs and going the extra mile to ensure the garden represents their ideas.
None of it would have been possible without the support of HTA Design and the wonderful hard work of Build Up, who have been so understanding and flexible with us as we contended with the uncertainties that 2020 brought. A huge thank you to them!”
As we celebrate this milestone in the creation of the garden we want to say an additional special thank you to Mike De’Ath who completed a sky dive to raise money in support of the project. We salute you Mike! We also would like to thank Seerbridge for their support in helping Fight for Peace engage with this opportunity.
We now look forward with lots of excitement to the next phase of the project, which will see the space brought to life with symbolic artwork produced by our young people and staff, and to the official opening of the Peace Garden later in the year.