The Financial Times’ continued support for Trees for Cities has helped fund landscaping projects in the London borough of Southwark, improving the area for local residents.

Trees for Cities works with local communities to plant trees in socially and economically deprived urban areas around the world.

Now in its second year of FT funding, the charity has delivered two community-focused, tree planting projects restoring neglected estates and creating a new urban woodland area.

The Brayard and Pelican Estates, which were once deprived of any decent green spaces, have now been transformed through the Trees for Cities planting project, with full backing from residents in the area.

Brayard Estate now boasts a community garden, consisting of 19 different fruit trees and several hundred hornbeam hedges, providing the residents with a wall of privacy. The Pelican Estate has been replenished with a mixture of colourful, fruit and scented trees.

The charity has also breathed a new lease of life into Birchmere Park in Thamesmead, creating an urban woodland that has allowed a new habitat for wildlife to flourish.
Community involvement in all these projects has lead to more awareness of the environment they live in and has had a positive impact on the local area.

FT staff in London and New York will have the opportunity to volunteer for tree planting projects as part of the FT and Trees for Cities partnership.