Groundwork was established in London as a result of the needs and initiatives of the capital city, with the first offices opening in Camden in 1993. As new partnerships with Boroughs were developed, further Groundwork Trusts started up across London. Together, under the title of 'Groundwork in London', they rapidly became a successful bidder for the new Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) and the first pan-London programmes began in April 1995.
Groundwork in London was soon a very significant player in SRB with major London-wide regeneration programmes, including:
In the early days Groundwork also helped establish other regeneration partnerships, which matured into successful large scale programmes. The London Waterways Partnership (LWP) - that generated over 100 individual projects across the 50 miles of waterway corridors over a seven year period - is one example of many. The main partners for LWP were: British Waterways, the Environment Agency, the Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, Thames Water, the London Tourist Board, and the fifteen London Boroughs involved in the north London canals and tributary river corridors, including the New River aqueduct.
Between 1993 and today new Groundwork Trusts have opened and others have expanded. Consequently, Groundwork's projects have been delivered in an increasing number of boroughs, with a particular focus on the areas of highest social deprivation and need. Whilst these areas provide the driver for many of Groundwork's projects, London's unique social, economic and environmental challenges - especially in terms of a huge and expanding population sharing limited space with businesses, transport routes and service industries - mean that care and attention must also be paid to more prosperous areas, as these can often suffer from a damaged environment. Without this holistic approach, the overall impact of Groundwork's activities could potentially be restricted.
Consequently, one of the key drivers of Groundwork London's current strategy is to provide Groundwork services across all of London. For further details on this, follow this link.
