A new pop-up green space is to be installed in the heart of the City of London at Moor Lane next week.

The Moor Lane Community Garden has been developed through a co-design approach with local community and resident groups, the City of London Corporation and its cultural district, Culture Mile and award-winning landscape, art and architecture practice, Wayward.

Inspired by the iconic architecture of the Barbican and London Wall, this temporary installation responds to the area’s design and history, while exploring new and exciting ways to green our streets.

The new urban green space will be a test bed for a future landscaping project in Moor Lane, after the development of 21 Moorfields is completed.  Using feedback from locals, the aim is to create a long-lasting green space informed by the community who use it most.

Oliver Sells QC, Chairman of the City of London Corporation’s Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee, said: “This new community garden will be a very welcome place for residents, workers and visitors to enjoy, and pause and reflect in an area of the City, which sorely needs green space.

“I hope this temporary installation will pave the way to providing even more biodiversity, tree-planting and greenery on our streets.”

The garden will include a mixture of drought-tolerant, low maintenance plants that will provide flowers and fragrance all year round.

Highlights include classic scented evergreens like rosemary, lavender and wormwood, paired with the structural forms of Euonymus and Euphorbias and dotted with flowering grasses; delicate perennial flowers, trailing climbers and blossoming trees like the giant leaved Foxglove tree and eye-catching Cherry Trees provide a rich landscape for insects and pollinators.

Following a series of collaborative workshops with the local community, the design takes inspiration from the iconic architecture of the Barbican and London Wall. Each planter is informed by elements of castle architecture such as crenellations, flanking and buttresses, using a combination of smooth honed and textured finishes to mirror the Barbican’s distinctive concrete structure.

As Moor Lane sits at the gateway to Culture Mile – the City of London’s cultural district which stretches from Farringdon to Moorgate – the Moor Lane Community Garden will also incorporate the new Culture Mile Public Realm branding, which will be implemented over the next year, providing a creative visual identity to the area.

In Spring 2021, a new poetry commission will be launched within the installation, encouraging residents, visitors and City workers to visit and enjoy the new space. Barbican Young Poet alumnus Kit Finnie, in collaboration with the Guildhall School and Music & Drama, will develop a site specific piece for the garden, alongside a number of poetry and writing workshops with multiple community groups and organisation in the local area. These workshops will culminate in the creation of a final poem that will be installed throughout the garden.

Visit culturemile.london for more information.