For this month’s local business pitch, we caught five with The Green Estate Community Interest Company to find out about their mission, ethos and how others can get involved.
Tell us about your business – sell yourself!
The Green Estate Community Interest Company specialises in growing places which are resilient, joyful for people and good for nature. We look after 21 buildings and 42 hectares of land providing a range of products and services. We host weddings, celebrations and corporate events in our beautiful venues and provide a unique heritage visitor and educational experience at Sheffield Manor Lodge. We offer meadows and resilience consultancy and maintenance landscaping services across Sheffield and the UK.
Our Green Waste Recycling Services provide drop off for green waste and we turn this into PAS 100 Peat Free Compost and Specialist Soils. We also sell designer high impact meadow seed and turf mixes called Pictorial Meadows all across the UK and into the EU. This is our superstar product, which last year was used to fill the Tower of London Moat with flowers as part of the Superbloom Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
What sparked the idea for the company?
20-plus years ago, the landscape and heritage buildings in the Manor ward were derelict and abandoned. Seizing the opportunity of regeneration funding, Manor and Castle Development Trust and the Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust set up a small environment and heritage project seeking to invest in the assets and turn them into going concerns that had an impact on the local communities
Over time, the team and activities continued to grow and in 2003, The Green Estate Community Interest Company was born!
What is the key ethos underpinning what you do?
Our mission is to grow engaging, adaptive and resilient urban places. We are aspirational for our local place and community, and this applies to everything we do, whether it is hosting a wedding or designing a meadow. We are interested in innovation and pushing at the boundaries to make the world a more sustainable and resilient place. We balance the desire for social impact with the need to generate income and all of our profits are invested into our people and our place.
How can people get involved?
People can invest in our products and services through hiring our venue, buying our meadow seeds and turf or volunteer with us. We are always on the lookout for new partnerships and collaborations!
Find out more about The Green Estate at www.greenestate.org.uk and ww.pictorialmeadows.co.uk
