We are delighted that planning permission has been granted for Cedar Yards, an exciting new creative and community campus at the heart of Chiswick House & Gardens. 

The approved proposals will see underused ‘back of house’ areas transformed into new facilities that will benefit the local community and help secure the long-term sustainability of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust.

Alongside boosting the impact of existing community and volunteer programmes, Cedar Yards will encourage new community, cultural and creative enterprise activity on site. Plans include a Learning Hub, affordable artists’ studios, new facilities for volunteers as well as the rescue of an unused and overgrown 17^th century walled garden to create a fruit garden, developed with local people to tell the story of our changing climate.

A plan view of Cedar Yards Community & Creative Campus

The Learning Hub, a carbon-neutral indoor learning space will host horticultural and creative learning activities for over 7000 participants a year, including a new programme for schools.  Affordable workspaces for artists, meanwhile, will generate creative employment and local entrepreneurship, as well as creating a new source of income for the Trust, alongside community venue hire.

Cedar Yards will enable our team to do more for our community, for longer – and we are extremely pleased to be moving ahead with this important project.

Finally, we would like to note that we wouldn’t have been able to reach this stage without generous support from a range of funders, including the London Borough of Hounslow, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Linbury Trust, the Foyle Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund.

New Indoor & Outdoor Spaces: what will Cedar Yards look like?

The Cedar Yards Community & Creative Campus consists of four key elements:

• • The creation of a Learning Hub, a new carbon-neutral indoor space enabling horticultural and creative learning activities for 7000+ participants annually, alongside office and social space for staff, gardeners, and volunteers. An external spill out space will bring historic horticultural working areas back into use as a new learning and activity space.
  • A new Volunteer Base will provide a practical amenity space to support over 200 volunteers, who play a crucial role in maintaining the House and Gardens for the public to enjoy.
  • The Fruit Garden will transform a currently unused and overgrown late 17th century ‘secret’ walled garden to provide a new garden for local groups, schools, and families to participate in horticulture-themed activities throughout the year.
  • The Creative Campus will convert the currently underused historic back sheds and stables to create affordable workspaces for up to 100 artists and makers.

The Learning Hub, view from the Estate Yard

Heritage & Sustainability

As the birthplace of the English Landscape movement, our Grade-I listed House and landscape gardens are internationally recognised as a place of significance in architectural and garden history.  The designs for Cedar Yards respond with sensitivity to the historic context, providing new access routes and outdoor spaces whilst adopting sustainable materials and construction techniques.

A wall around the Fruit Garden will be reinstated and new planting will increase biodiversity, whilst referencing its historic use.  In the Creative Campus, new roof insulation, heating and servicing will provide a more sustainable and comfortable working environment,  whilst minimising the impact on the existing buildings and maximising flexibility for the artists and makers. Natural materials will be used for the new Learning Hub and Volunteer facilities, including solar panels and heat pumps that will contribute to achieving the net zero carbon goal.

Xanthe Arvanitakis, Director of Chiswick House and Gardens Trust, said:

We are delighted that planning permission has been granted for our new creative and community campus, Cedar Yards. By re-working unused ‘back of house’ areas at Chiswick House, we are creating a space that will boost cultural and creative activity in the local area, create more public green space, and allow us to expand our valuable learning and community work, which is currently running at capacity.

“Our planned transformation will include a new fruit garden, developed with local people to tell the story of our changing climate, while the introduction of affordable workspaces for artists will foster a local creative economy and generate much needed new income for the Trust.

“Generous support from a range of funders has enabled us to reach this pivotal moment, including London Borough of Hounslow, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Linbury Trust, the Foyle Foundation and the Architectural Heritage Fund. It is exciting to be moving forward on this important project.

Next steps: why we need your support 

While our generous funders have allowed the project to progress to its current stage, we still need further support to help make Cedar Yards a reality. If you are able to, please do consider joining us as a member, in order to help Chiswick House and Gardens continue to flourish, for your enjoyment, and for the enjoyment of future generations.

If you’d like to stay in touch and hear more about how Cedar Yards is progressing, and about the activities we are planning, please do sign up to our newsletter to keep in touch.