Crime prevention garden on display at prestigious Royal Horticultural Society show

The garden has been created by two students at Capel Manor College’s School of Garden Design and Plantsmanship in Enfield, after they won a competition sponsored by Secured by Design (SBD), the national police crime prevention initiative, and run in close collaboration with the Met Police Designing Out Crime Team in North East London and the College.

This will be the first time that a garden like this will have featured at this prestigious annual show, which runs from 2-8 July.

The two students, Lucy Glover and Jacqueline Poll, won last year’s competition whilst in the final year of their foundation degree course in garden design at Capel Manor College. They were given four weeks to design their city or urban garden, which could be for a front or rear garden and should ‘provide an enjoyable and safe space, which has well protected boundaries, preventing easy access to the rear and protects everything within’.

The elements which Lucy and Jacqueline included to make the garden safe, secure and sustainable included fencing topped with trellis to provide a high boundary; prickly plants, such as pyracantha or climbing roses, to protect windows, fencing and drainpipes; and fixed concrete benches topped with wood panels so they couldn’t be repositioned to access windows.

They also featured dusk-to-dawn low voltage lighting; solar globe lights in sandstone finish to provide low level illumination at night as well as sculptural interest to borders; and a pergola with a roof made of round poles with lose fitting wrap-around metal tubes to discourage climbing.

Other measures included gravel paths to hear the crunch of approaching footsteps; and a secure shed, topped with a green defensive planted roof, with items inside like bicycles and gardening tools marked with Smartwater Forensic traceable liquids to identify them if stolen.

Lucy Glover said: ”I have loved the process of creating the garden and seeing my design coming to life. The team has been fantastic, and it’s been fun, if hard work. I’m very grateful for the opportunity”.

Jacqueline Poll said: “What an opportunity it has been creating a Hampton Court garden. I’ve learnt loads and have enjoyed working with a fab team. I am proud of the final finished garden which I think is a beautiful, relaxing place. It has been fab to see my planting design brought to life”.

Secured by Design CEO Guy Ferguson said; “This fantastic garden is a unique blend of security which looks ascetically pleasing. It’s well worth a visit to come down and see and hopefully you will be able to pick up some ideas about how you can make your garden more secure and look absolutely fantastic”.

Sergeant David Lucy from the Met Police said; “This has been a great opportunity for the Met Police to partner with the amazing staff and students at Capel Manor College. Simple and affordable crime prevention measures, such as those on display here, add an extra layer of security and will help protect your home”.

Julie Dowbiggin, Capel Manor Plant Sales Manager said; “It’s been hard work but brilliant. The students worked really hard and learnt an awful lot from doing it. The College always loves to be involved with the shows because it gives the students a brilliant opportunity to launch their careers”.

To see more photographs and video clips of this fantastic garden, follow @securedbydesign on Twitter. We'll be posting updates throughout the week.

Lucy Glover: Lucy has just completed the Royal Horticultural Society accredited Foundation Degree in Garden Design and Plantsmanship at Capel Manor College.
www.lucyglovergardens.co.uk

Jacqueline Poll: Jacqueline has just completed the Royal Horticultural Society accredited Foundation Degree in Garden Design and Plantsmanship at Capel Manor College.
www.jpgardendesign.com

Capel Manor College: Capel Manor College is London’s leading land-based college, offering a wide range of full and part-time courses for young people and adults, including their renowned floristry, garden design and horticulture programs.
www.capel.ac.uk

Secured by Design: Secured by Design, the national police crime prevention initiative, aim to achieve sustainable reductions in crime through design and other approaches to enable people to live in a safer society.

We have more than 200 SBD trained police officers and staff in Police Forces around the UK. These Designing Out Crime Officers work with architects, developers and local authority planners to build in tried, tested and proven crime prevention techniques at the planning stage to reduce crime and keep communities safe.

SBD seeks to reduce crime by combining minimum standards of physical security like doors, windows and locks that achieve SBD’s Police Preferred Specification standard and proven design principles of the built environment such as natural surveillance and defensible space.

Whilst police are unable to recommend specific products, SBD can act as an effective gatekeeper and signposting service to our 650 member companies and their products, which meet our rigorous Police Preferred Specification standards.

Members’ products range from secure and robust doors, windows and locks through to cutting-edge IT products, CCTV components, and shutters and barriers. SBD is the only way for companies to obtain police accreditation for security products in the UK.

Video: https://youtu.be/jZ7oeAQcHmc