From 2–18 September 2022, at Victoria Square in Birmingham, PoliNations created giant architectural trees forming a canopy over a ‘super-garden’ with live stages and various talks and workshops. The project had 12,000 participants engaged in workshops and a series of talks and a live audience of 150,000 people. The outreach programme worked with 60+ community groups and more than 1,000 people who participated in growing and planting PoliNations.

Who is on the project team? (designer, consultants, etc)

PoliNations was created and produced by Trigger with the creative team:

Creative Director, Angie Bual

Design Director, Carl Robertshaw

Architectural and Spatial Designers, THISS Studio

Production Designer, Bronia Housman

Horticultural Designers, Chris and Toby Marchant

Describe the context of this project, its neighbourhood and people.

Led by two women of colour, Trigger set out to create PoliNations – a celebration of colour, beauty, and natural diversity. Set around 5 giant 11-metre-high architectural trees and thousands of plants, with a garden design by Chelsea Award winning horticultural designers, PoliNations transformed the grey-paved and concrete-slabbed Victoria Square in the heart of Birmingham into a vibrant urban oasis in September 2022. Victoria Square is Birmingham’s most famous pedestrianised square, a short walk from Birmingham New Street Station and on the main pedestrian route between the Bull Ring and Brindley Place. The square is dominated by concrete paving slabs and is a thoroughfare for commuters working in banking, law, insurance, and social services. It is also home to both the Town Hall and Council House and forms the centrepiece for the Frankfurt Christmas Market every year.

Please share any data or figures that support your entry, for example increased footfall, happiness surveys, event attendance and/or observed changes in behaviour.

PoliNations attracted a live audience of 150,000 people. We worked hard to ensure 25% of our audience came from a Global Majority background and 1 in 10 were from D/deaf and disabled communities. An extensive outreach programme bolstered a broad population of the Birmingham and West Midlands, engaging 60+ community groups and 1,000+ people who participated in growing and planting PoliNations. At the end of the project, all 6,000 plants and trees were given to the general public and local community groups in our plant giveaway. Just under 12,000 participants engaged in workshops and a series of talks around sustainability and nature-based solutions, climate and more. 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? If if it was a temporary intervention, is there a legacy plan? What happened to its tenants, users, materials and programming?

PoliNations was inspired by the fact that over 80% of plants found in the UK originated overseas, and we aimed to inspire positive change with sustainable, nature-based solutions to social and climate issues. Although PoliNations was a temporary intervention, the legacy of the work lives on in the city through: · 6,000 plants, shrubs and trees donated to public and local community. · 9 Iconic Plant sculptures are being donated to project partner Birmingham Botanical Gardens. · Our beautifully hand painted Tuk Tuk is the centrepiece for Trigger’s new work TEABREAK, a free outdoor show telling the stories and origin of tea with live dancers. · 5 x 11 meter high trees will be touring festivals in the coming years.