Places of Change garden 2010

Silver medal for "Places of Change" Garden - the biggest ever Show Garden for the Chelsea Flower Show - developed by 500 people affected by homelessness.

The Places of Change Garden is an ambitious collaboration between national housing and regeneration delivery agency, the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), the Eden Project, national membership charity for frontline homelessness agencies Homeless Link, and Communities and Local Government (CLG).

This partnership builds on the success of the silver medal award-winning (cast your vote for this year's show now) Key Garden at Chelsea in 2009 which saw collaboration from 20 homeless agencies and 200 homeless service users involved at all stages of the Garden’s development. Participants involved consistently reported a huge confidence boost, new skills, and renewed hope for their future.

This year's garden, designed by Eden Project’s award-winning garden designer Paul Stone, is 2.5 times the size of the Key Garden and is being funded by CLG and the HCA’s Places of Change programme – a £80m capital funding programme that aims to bring about a step change in the way homeless services are perceived and challenge stereotypes around homelessness.

The 300+ people who are contributing to the garden have been involved in planting, gardening, design, construction, and carpentry during the site development.  They will also offer on-site hospitality and multi-media facilities during the week of the Show. In doing so, they will develop new skills that will enable them to move onto further training and qualifications, and turn their lives around long-term.

Follow the garden's development

Read case studies and hear about the experiences of those involved in the garden at the Places of Change garden blog!

Watch the garden take shape...

Behind the scenes footage and interviews with some of the people who have been involved in developing the garden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKOsYH_fxuc

Don't miss a thing

• Follow the Places of Change garden on Twitter to keep up to date with the latest developments. 
• Show your support for the dedicated invididuals who are working tirelessly to create the biggest ever garden at Chelsea Flower Show by becoming a fan on Facebook.