Newport Can Do gardening project: Part Three

Newport Can Do will be working with the staff and students of the ILS Department at Crosskeys Campus Coleg Gwent, to build an outdoor classroom and garden — thanks to the National Garden Scheme.

The garden will have an accessible path accessing all areas. There will be flowers and vegetables grown, which through the summer will be open to the public to do a summer sale.

The outdoor classroom and garden will also be open to the public to take part in community courses throughout the year. There will also be a small animal section of the garden.

The outdoor classroom will be an eco-friendly construction, with plants that grow on the roof and down the sides; with the possibility of French doors to be open up throughout the warmer months.

This month, Alex Graves, a tutor at Crosskeys College ILS Department has said:

‘I am looking forward to the growth and development of the area and watching the students flourish, as they learn and develop real life, practical, useable, life skills; which they can transfer to all aspects of their life.’

Exciting updates

This month we have put a new fence up, with MJ Landscapes, to replace the old fence that was behind it. 

The new fence already works beautifully with the mountain behind it, so we are really excited to see the rest of the outdoor classroom start to take shape.

Leigh Francis from Carlton Building Solutions Ltd, who is providing the outdoor classroom, has said:

'When we were approached by 'Kat' Katrina Cole project coordinator for the Leonard Cheshire, asking us if we would like to get involved in supplying the new classroom at the Crosskeys CollegeCampus we jumped at the chance.

‘Being situated just 11/2 mile from the Campus, it made perfect sense to us that we had to be part of such a worthwhile project.

‘We designed the new portable classroom facility in conjunction with Kat, so it will be specifically built for the ILS department providing additional space to work in the garden area.

‘Access to deliver the building will be most challenging, and will require a large crane to drop it into its final position.

‘The program is progressing extremely well and we have plans to manufacture and install the building by mid/end of February, ready to plant out some seed and early saplings.

‘Once again thank you for the invitation and we must say that it has been such a pleasure working with you on this project.’

Next steps

Once the processing of the planning is all agreed the classroom will be delivered by crane and put into position. 

The paths can then be placed ready for the flower beds and a containing garden fence put around the boarders of the garden.

There is a lot to consider, plan, and do on this project. Everyone involved is incredibly excited and looking forward to it all.