The Aviva Community Fund will double all pledges up to £250 through their support for local communities to take action for nature. Please help us reach our target.
Who we are
The Wolves Lane Centre, nestled in the heart of Haringey, has been a food growing site since Tudor times. It has evolved from tenant farming land, war time allotments, to council glasshouses. Officially established in May 2019, OrganicLea and the Ubele Initiative formed a coalition with a shared vision to transform the Wolves Lane Centre into a center for urban food production, creating a welcoming space for Black and racially minoritised growers and to preserve the historic glasshouse structures built in the 1970s. Today the Wolves Lane Centre is a horticultural centre and community food growing hub with a mission to make good food accessible to all.
Alongside our Wolves Lane Centre growers, our site is home to Black Rootz, the first multigenerational black-led growing project in the UK. Black Rootz enables the older generation to share their expertise on growing whilst also supporting youth engagement in their surrounding natural environment.
We have two thriving growing sites - one at Pasteur Gardens and another at Wolves Lane. Our Wolves Lane site boasts a flourishing Cactus House and Palm House, complete with a koi pond and our resident terrapin turtles, alongside food growing glasshouses. We endeavour to keep our doors open to as many visitors as possible through free open days on Fridays and Sundays, volunteering days throughout the week, school educational visits, horticultural courses, community markets and so much more.
We are extremely grateful to our community volunteers who have kept the Centre going over recent years while the old glasshouses have needed a lot of love and attention. They have nurtured the historic Palm House and Cactus House, kept the new crops growing and harvested, alongside managing our community cafe.
Our redevelopment
Now, the Wolves Lane Centre is undergoing a major transformation! And we need your help to complete the work and ensure we can offer an open, accessible and flourishing green space for the whole community.
Joining forces with a broad team of architects, ecologists, brave builders, community learners and doers, we're improving the Centre into a thriving, resilient space. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, the Mayor’s Good Growth Fund, Haringey council and the Clothworkers’ Foundation, we're introducing a pioneering new eco-build equipped with ecologically-informed soft landscaping, woodlands, sustainable drainage, and rainwater harvesting.
This redevelopment is not just about vital new infrastructure; it's about focusing on local needs, enhancing biodiversity, and promoting cultural diversity in construction. As we embrace a greener, open and more community-focused approach, the Wolves Lane Centre will become a hub for education, a space for growth, a gathering spot, and a communal green haven. We're not just transforming a site – we're creating a model for urban climate-informed change.
We’re calling on our community to help us complete this momentous project. The final stage of this redevelopment funded by this crowdfund will ensure the site is rewilded, inspiring and accessible to our incredible Wolves Lane Centre community.
What we aim to achieve with your sponsorship
- Install accessible surfacing in the ground landscaping for those with strollers and using wheelchairs and walking sticks;
- Fitting out a classroom space for the community with recycled and reclaimed furniture;
- Carbon neutral fittings throughout the community spaces, all plastic-free natural materials;
- Soft landscaping for our reed beds and rain gardens as part of the rainwater harvesting system and to create a wild teaching space.