Enhancing your experience through biodiversity
Category
Officer Trustees
Date
09 dec 2024
Author
Deputy President (Welfare)
Read Time
4 min
At the Students’ Union, we’re passionate about enhancing the student experience by championing sustainability and biodiversity initiatives.
This commitment aligns with the manifesto points from Union President Camille Boutrolle’s vision of increasing green spaces and my manifesto point on supporting student-led sustainability projects.
By fostering collaboration between students and the university, we’re pushing for a greener, more connected campus.
Progress So Far
The response from both students and the university has been overwhelmingly positive.
We’re thrilled with Imperial’s proactive measures, including the appointment of Lucy Hand as the university’s first in-house head gardener. Lucy has been leading engaging bulb-planting sessions, enriching the campus atmosphere, and inspiring more green initiatives.
Additionally, Imperial has contracted J&L Gibbons, the landscape architects behind the Natural History Museum garden, to reimagine campus spaces. Their renderings, titled Imperial – Rooted in Horticulture, present a stunning vision of a greener, more inviting Imperial. These designs form part of the university’s broader Grey to Green project, which aims to transform the campus into a vibrant hub where nature and community coexist.
While Grey to Green represents an exciting long-term transformation of the campus, these changes won’t happen overnight. However, there is plenty of room for quick wins—small but impactful projects we can implement to immediately enhance the student experience and increase biodiversity.
We’re keen to hear from the community about what you’d like to see. What green spaces are missing? What atmosphere should we aim to build?
Share your ideas, and together, we can shape a greener, more connected Imperial.
Spotlight on Re:Gen
One of the standout student-led initiatives is Re:Gen, spearheaded by Emilio Garcia Padron, a very engaged student who is active at Imperial’s gardens.
This campaign is all about protecting, restoring, and expanding green spaces on campus. Emilio has been instrumental in securing funding through the President’s Fund to support projects like installing polytunnels, raised beds, and other tools for community gardening in the chaplaincy garden.
Imperial’s history is deeply rooted in innovation, but did you know our campus was once home to a thriving Royal Horticultural Garden? Over the years, South Kensington’s green spaces have diminished. Re:Gen is here to reverse that trend, transforming our urban campus into a “garden lab” where biodiversity and cutting-edge research thrive side by side.
Green spaces like community gardens foster connection and collaboration, bringing together people from diverse backgrounds. These spaces can spark innovative research, startups, and partnerships while offering a model for a sustainable future.
What Re:Gen Aims to Achieve
- Transform Campus: From pavements to grasslands and lawns to biodiversity hubs.
- Encourage Guerrilla Gardening: By providing resources and space for innovative student and staff projects.
- Measure Impact: Through an annual Garden Report to secure funding and assess progress.
Current Re:Gen Projects
Community Garden
Re:Gen is working on building a new community garden at South Kensington with these key activities:
- Action Days: Join them every Wednesday and Thursday from 1–4 PM at the Chaplaincy Garden and ESOC Garden.
- Wildlife Photography Competition: Capturing the biodiversity of South Kensington.
- Gardening Journal: Showcasing gardening efforts on social media.
- Imperial’s Rhythm: A short film documenting university life and its connection to green spaces.
If you would like to express interest to join Re:Gen projects, fill out this form.
Get Involved
Whether you have a project idea or want to contribute ideas to existing initiative we’d love to hear from you.
These two images above were created by J&L Gibbons. They show the current state and a potential future vision for Beit quad, illustrating how it could evolve.