BBC One DIY SOS team to help rebuild Chelsea garden
The Gold medal winning Morgan Stanley Garden for Great Ormond Street Hospital, designed by Chris Beardshaw, for this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, will be moved and rebuilt after the show.
It has been announced that the BBC One series, DIY SOS will help to rebuild and plant a new garden at the hospital, adapted from the Chelsea garden, on a disused second floor rooftop.
It will provide a green, reflective space for parents and families of the children undergoing care at the hospital. A key challenge for the rebuild is that the only way to bring all the building and landscape materials to the central London site is via crane and it is important that the work is carried out as quickly as possible so as not to impact on the day-to-day life-saving work of the hospital.
The team will use the crane to life over 30 mature trees, topiary and hedging as well as around 1,000 plants and over 30 tonnes of soil.
There is currently no green space for patients to use and it can be difficult for families to find a quiet area when they need to make difficult decisions or need time to reflect. As the garden is being built on a rooftop surrounded by buildings, the plants have been selected to suit an urban environment.
Morgan Stanley, a long standing supporter of Great Ormond Street Hospital, commissioned Chris Beardshaw to design a garden that would work for the hospital as their contribution to this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show. When Chris’s long standing friend and DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles heard about the plan and the tricky task of transferring the garden from the flower show to the hospital without impacting on its life-saving work, he immediately wanted to get involved with his team to help Chris take on the challenge.
Chris Beardshaw said: “We are delighted that Nick and the DIY SOS team are joining us to transform the disused roof space at the hospital into somewhere special for parents and families. At the start of the design process we met with parents, children and clinicians and it was clear that there was a strong need for somewhere close to the wards, which can provide a calm and reflective space for parents to escape, even if it’s just for a few moments. I am passionate about the need for green space in urban settings where it can provide a ‘visual vitamin’ to those who use it. This project is one of the most significant and poignant gardens of my career and I feel fortunate to be able to partner with Morgan Stanley, Nick and the DIY SOS team in making it a reality for the hospital this summer.”
Tim Johnson, chief executive at Great Ormond Street Hospital commented that the garden will be an amazing addition to the hospital, providing a much needed green garden space for families right in the heart of the hospital itself: “Moving the garden here is quite an undertaking so we’re extremely grateful and excited to have this beautifully designed garden by Chris and the BBC’s DIY SOS team helping out too,” he said.
Picture credits: banner © and credit: John Campbell. SOS team ©BBC
