Plans for the establishment of the U-turn Communitree Urban Greening Hub on one-third of the grounds formerly occupied by the Claremont Bowling Club are quickly moving ahead with the launch date set for April next year.
Not too long ago, the property at 13 Bowwood Road, Claremont, was set to become a 4×4 off-road adventure park but with the City of Cape Town refusing the application for a five-year temporary land-use departure permit in January, this idea was culled.
Now the Claremont Beneficiary Trust (CBT), the owner of the property, is temporarily leasing patches of the property for the next two to three years while CBT engages with property developers. Thereafter, the trust hopes to get the development underway.
So far, short-term leases have been signed with U-turn: Communitree and Africa Padel which provides courts where residents can enjoy a game of padel – a hybrid between tennis and squash.
The new Urban Greening Hub will be established on the bottom-third of the old bowling green site.
Julia September, U-turn: Communitree Manager, says it will be a hub for all those working in the urban greening space.
“Whether you’re a passionate member of the public wanting to green the traffic circle outside your kitchen window, a school eco-club, an NGO in the ‘greening space’, or a government department,” says September.
Covering roughly 2 000 m², the hub will have a greenhouse, a shade structure, a learning centre, an indigenous plant nursery and a tea garden; all funds raised will be dedicated to upskilling, properly resourcing and supporting this work.
“All the support staff on site will be graduates or Champions from the U-turn recovery programme who are in phase three,” adds September.
For the past 25 years, U-turn has focused on the rehabilitation of street people using a three-phase, skills-based programme. It starts with basic needs relief, like food and clothing, available at a first-phase service centre, and then continues to drug and alcohol rehabilitation support (phase two). The model culminates in a work-based learnership that lasts on average 19 months, called the “work-readiness” programme (phase three). Programme participants who make it to this phase are called Champions.
September says that the Champs will gain employment and work experience at the hub.
“They will be upskilled with all the relevant knowledge and skills – indigenous propagation, plant care, gardening, plant sales, nursery management, workshop facilitation, and so on. They will be planting and greening urban spaces when volunteers are in short supply and, therefore, keep this work going.”
Communitree was founded in 2016 with the goal of creating functional fynbos corridors, also referred to as stepping stones, in the urban environments, across Cape Town, connecting insects and animals to nature reserves. Several gardens were started along the Liesbeek Parkway that are still thriving today, such as the Huis Luckhoff Special Garden Patch, Tow Path Garden and “The Spek Plek”.
U-turn and Communitree first partnered to help establish and maintain an indiginous garden along the canal behind Newlands Public Swimming Pool. The partnership continued for several years, with U-turn’s phase one participants assisting with planting and maintaining the garden every week as a voucher-earning activity. These vouchers could then be exchanged for food or clothing at a phase-one service centre.
When Communitree’s founders, Frances Taylor and Paul Hoekman, emigrated to Columbia during the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation ceased formal operations, but work on the Newlands Garden continued.
September explains, with this in mind and driven by U-turn’s expansion into new social enterprise sectors, the proposal was made for Communitree to join U-turn. Communitree’s work would continue under the umbrella of U-turn as a social enterprise registered as a private Pty Ltd company. It would provide training, work opportunities and an income to U-turn while Communitree continues its mission to uplift degraded areas with indigenous vegetation.
“With the right investment and a well-structured phased rehabilitation programme our human journey from brokenness, to healing, to functioning with hope again, mimics the natural one and it’s here where U-turn and Communitree synchronise beautifully,” says September.
She says, at present several role plays are coming together to finalise the plans for the site, with the most important being securing a sustainable supply of water and electricity, something without which the project cannot continue.
“We need to fill the nursery with indigenous plants. The Champions need to be upskilled and the Learning Centre needs to be built and then used,” she says.
According to U-turn’s model, their social enterprises have to be self-sufficient.
“So, at the hub, we will be selling plants and gardening products, offering workshops and training on a range of topics relevant to urban greening, for example, indigenous propagation, composting, hand pollination, and getting your soil mix right. We will also offer several greening services and packages for the public, private and corporate sectors.”
And then there will be the “fabulous” onsite tea garden, says September.
“All the tea garden furniture will be made by Champions at one of U-turn’s other social enterprises called BuildBack. This furniture will be on sale too. All the funds will go towards covering the costs of the facility, employing more Champions and greening more public urban spaces.”
- For more information, email julia@homeless.org.za
