Although regularly used by tenants, the garden area at Link’s properties at Hawthornbank Lane was identified during Estate Management walkabouts as an area that could be improved by the Linkscape initiative.

Link’s Asset Planning team and Linkscape worked together to create a design for the garden with residents being given the opportunity to feed into the final design. The response from residents was very positive with requests to create an area that they could maintain themselves to allow them to grow their own plants and crops.

The design of the new garden is modern but has links to the heritage of the former Mills which once were found in the area.

Work started on Monday 11 July with the new garden transformed by the Linkscape team in three weeks.

Win Hatton, a tenant at Hawthornbank Lane, said: “I have been watching the hard work the team has put in over the past three weeks. Everyone has been so friendly as well. They have made a huge difference to the garden and I hope that people will get together and start using it more often.”

Rab Stevenson, trade operation manager, added: “It was an excellent job carried out by the Linkscape team. They transformed the area into a lovely garden for our residents to enjoy some peaceful and relaxing time.”

Linkscape was established to encourage tenants, owners and staff to work together to make, and sustain, environmental improvements in some of the neighbourhoods in which Link works.

It provides practical support to tenants to encourage them to take ownership of their communal areas and ensures tenants’ ideas on how to improve their environment are delivered.