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City students and staff teamed up with Islington Council to brighten up the community space

By Katie Hoggan (Communications Officer (Corporate)), Published

Staff and students of City, University of London donned their gardening gloves last week to spruce up Northampton Square Gardens. Led by Islington Council’s Parks Team, volunteers took part in different maintenance activities on Thursday 25 April including cleaning the bandstand, picking litter and gardening.

The spring session was organised by the Volunteering and Sustainability Teams at City in partnership with Islington Council. The session followed on from another community gardening project that took place during the autumn term in the green town square in Clerkenwell.

Student volunteer Gabi Prefit (Msci Computer Science with Game Technology, Computer Science, 2025) said the spring gardening session was the perfect way to take a break from her studies.

“I wanted to get out of the house as I’ve spent a lot of time working on assignments,”  she said.

It’s a really nice opportunity to get outside, spend time with friends and think about the environment. It was also satisfying to help give the square a fresh look.

Gabi volunteered with fellow students as well as staff members at City, including Daniel Taylor, Widening Participation Events and Projects Assistant.

Daniel said: “I love gardening and I’ve seen different activities like this taking place on campus for a while now. I’ve always wanted to get involved and I’m glad I did, I had lots of fun.”

If you would like to find out more about the volunteering roles available at City, check out the volunteering website. If you would like to get involved in City’s sustainability efforts, staff and students can find out more on City’s website.

Arthur Shearlaw, Sustainability Engagement Coordinator, said volunteer opportunities like the gardening session are a great opportunity to find out more about local green spaces, take time out from work or studying and connect with staff, students and the local community:

We take our civic responsibility seriously and believe City plays an important role in bringing people together to inspire change for an increasingly uncertain future.

“We welcome working with both the Volunteering team and Islington Council to achieve this.”

Samantha Alcock, Senior Community Volunteering Officer at City, said:

Volunteering in Northampton Square is a great way to bring together staff, students and residents and makes a real difference to our shared space. It's a great reminder of how easy it is to get involved in the local community and make a difference, no matter what you're passionate about.

Last November, staff and students planted over 1,000 winter-flowering bulbs that had been carefully selected by Barnaby Shaw, City’s resident Beekeeper, for their benefits to bee health.

Barnaby has been beekeeping for twenty years. In 2013, he launched the social enterprise Bee Urban, which coordinates urban beekeeping, horticulture and community growing. Through this enterprise, he became City’s official beekeeper.

Activities like beekeeping and gardening are part of City’s sustainability-led engagement work. This month, City published the fourth edition of its annual Global Goals Report.

The report showcases City’s contribution to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), taking a wide-lens approach and highlighting the good work that City is producing across four sustainability-led workstreams. These include research, education, engagement and operations.

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