Ground Lab: From Waste To Habitat with John Little (14+)

Join us and John Little to explore the opportunities for reuse, utilising material waste from construction to support biodiverse landscapes.
About this Event

“In the UK, construction, demolition and excavation account for 60% of material use and waste generation."
—UKGBC
Exploring our Design for Reuse principle within the context of garden and landscape design, in this Ground Lab session we will learn how to use material waste from construction to improve biodiversity, pairing these mineral habitats with native and naturalized plants to encourage different insect and bird life.
We will also be looking at how the walls, gardens and paths of our homes and streets already act as vital infrastructure for biodiversity. We will consider how we might support and enhance that life in counter-intuitive ways, using reclaimed materials, and by manipulating the flow of rain and grey water.
Together we will construct a multi-layered planter using recyled construction waste, including sand and demolition rubble from the Neighbourhood Public Square site. Whilst planting seeds of drought-resilient species with intention to the local non-human species in our neighbourhood, we'll discuss the relationships of urban habitat, biodiversity and ecological resilience.
Please do register your place for this workshop to avoid disappointment, as space is limited. No previous experience is required to take part; John will be your trusty guide, and we'll be learning together! We ask that you are able to commit the full session as far as possible. A shared lunch and refreshments are also included.
This session is for people aged 14+. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
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What To Expect

• The day will start at Retrofit House with an introduction into the wider context of Ground Labs, situating it with the ongoing Retrofit House design process alongside Material Cultures.
• We'll then hear from both of our ground labs practitioners and gardeners present for the day — Alys Fowler and John Little — who'll share insights from their respective practices around ecological, resilient garden design across different scales.
• We'll then come together around a shared lunch, before the two workshop groups split into their respective practical sessions, diving into different approaches to designing our gardens as living infrastructure.
• Across the afternoon with John, the group will construct a multi-layered planter using recyled construction waste including sand and demolition rubble from the Neighbourhood Public Square site. Whilst planting seeds of drought-resilient species with intention to the local non-human species in our neighbourhood, we'll discuss the relationships of urban habitat, biodiversity and ecological resilience.
• Following this session, you are warmly welcome to join us at our Neighbourhood Supper Club (4pm—8pm) at the Signing Tree Venue (15 minutes walk from Retrofit House), where we will continue our Ground Lab enquiries, alongside a wide range of other activities, talks, a shared meal and more
  Due to the practical element of this session, please wear suitable clothing to be outside, be that in rain or shine.
  

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About John Little

John Little is known for his experimental garden in Essex and pioneering work with wildflowers and green roofs. He specialises in designing and building wildlife-friendly structures and spaces, such as bus shelters with green roofs, often integrating salvaged materials.
His Essex garden serves as a living laboratory for biodiverse gardening, particularly using low-fertility substrates such as demolition waste, to show their benefits for both flora and fauna biodiversity. He collaborates with local entomologists on analysing the impact of his work to show their benefits for both flora and fauna biodiversity.
John argues:

• Put the best gardeners in the poorest places
• Move money from capital into care
• Understand that gardened places are best for biodiversity and people
• Move novel landscapes higher up the BNG metric
• Understand that a modern public space gardener is much more than a horticulturist
• Keep waste on site and use it to make places beautiful and biodiverse
• Put soil and plants on roofs

Contact John via instagram @grassroofco

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About Ground Lab

“There are more living organisms in a tablespoon of soil
than there are people on Earth.”
—Pamela Shor, Black Rootz

Ground Lab is a shared open enquiry by CIVIC SQUARE, Material Cultures, an ecosystem of practitioners, neighbours, and all of you who join us, to discover together how we design, construct and steward our homes, streets and neighbourhood(s) in relation to the ground as living infrastructure. This includes building and protecting soil, cycling water, growing food, regulating temperature, reimagining the materials around us, and creating caring, social habitats for neighbours; including our more-than-human ones.
Bringing together neighbours, gardeners, ecologists, landscape practitioners, artists, builders, and more from near and far, we will gather Friday 14th—Tuesday 18th August for practical workshops, site visits, walks, conversations, shared meals, and more to pool our skills, knowledges, ideas and experiences in an open, curious environment; activating our sites and streets as classrooms.
What we unearth together over 5 days will directly inform the next stages of design for our Neighbourhood Public Square and Retrofit House sites together, including how their gardens and landscaping can (re)generate social-ecological co-benefits both locally and globally. Whatever your interests or experience, we warmly invite you to learn together with us, with a continued role for everyone in the reimagination of our relationship/s to land, materials and each other to face the challenges and opportunities ahead together.
Dig a little deeper: bit.ly/GroundLabCS
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Is This For Me?

Ground Lab is an open, shared enquiry with no prior knwoledge needed to take part. We're looking to explore the possibilities of bringing together different kinds of knowledge, skills and experiences—from those who work with the land, plants and materials every day, to others who are simply curious about how our homes, streets and neighbourhoods might relate differently to the ground beneath them.
As we continue to discover the possibilities and relationships for the ongoing design and construction of Negihbourhood Public Square and Retrofit House, we would love to connect with any gardeners, landscape designers, ecologists and other practitioners who work with the land across Birmingham or the West Midlands, who are actively excited by the intersections of these Ground Lab enquiries.
This session is for people aged 14+. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
You Might Love This If...

• You live in Ladywood or the wider city and are keen to openly discover pathways and opportunities for the Neighbourhood Public Square and Retrofit House sites together
• You're a gardener, landscape designer, ecologist, grower, builder or practitioner working in Birmingham or the West Midlands whose practice is rooted in ecological principles, or you're excited by the opportunity to build skills, knowledge and relationships across these intersections
• You're curious about the relationships between ecology, landscapes, retrofit and the places we live, and what becomes possible when we consider the ground as living infrastructure
• You are involved in the co-design and building of civic spaces in your own neighbourhood, or are interested in retrofit at the street and neighbourhood scale
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Access & Wellbeing

This Ground Lab session will take place take place in and around the Retrofit House site at .

• We regret that access into the house is not currently wheelchair accessible due to both the doorway raised above street level and a narrow entranceway
  
• This Ground Lab activity will be focused on the ground floor, but please note there are steep stairs up to the first and second floor rooms, with no lift available
  
• The house is in the early stages of a strip out process, with flooring uneven in places and many features that need care and repair. Please ensure to navigate carefully
  
• The house has toilet facilities available on both the ground floor and first floor. The main toilet will be on the first floor and the ground floor toilet is available for neighbours with access requirements
  
• All children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult and supervised at all times
  
• Due to the limited space we are unable to accommodate buggies at the house

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About Street Labs

Ground Lab has grown out of our Street Labs learning with Link Road—connecting the care and repair of everyday systems and relationships as the conditions to reimagine retrofit together as a street; from the drains beneath our feet and gutters overhead, to what we dream our front gardens and shared alleyways could be like.
This builds deeply on a range shared practice over the past 5 years, including 3°C Neighbourhood, Retrofit Reimagined, Re:Builders, Neighbourhood Trade School, Retrofit Street Learning Journey and the Link Road Dream Fund.
Street Labs are one part of a Site As A Classroom approach, a long-term collective practice to ensure every phase of designing, building, repairing and stewarding our sites is an open, inclusive, and shared opportunity for learning together in our neighbourhood and beyond.
Our intention is for our team, neighbourhood, and wider national and industrial scales to learn from the ongoing demonstration through Neighbourhood Public Square and Retrofit House in real-time, as well as informing how we learn from what the site, ecoregion, neighbourhood, peers, and precedents can continue to teach us, without end.
Learn more: bit.ly/GroundLabCS

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